Favor Trade
by MrNovaxc
Summary: John Graham has wound up in Gensokyo. How? He doesn't know. Why? He also doesn't know. What he DOES know is that he needs to find a way to make a living. Armed with the abilities from his favorite MMO, he decides to use them to open Favor Trade, a means to get food and (hopefully cash) to make living a bit easier. Let's be honest, it's really not going to help much.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Gensokyo

**Oh boy, a Touhou fanfic. Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time that I ended up doing something like this. Anyway, that being said I hope as things go on this fic grows into something that everyone likes. I've been meaning to make something akin to this for a while now and after reading numerous touhou related fics I couldn't contain myself any longer. That being said, Enjoy.**

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John Graham awoke on a dirt road. He had no idea what he was doing here. He spent a few minutes gathering his senses before taking a cursory glance around. He had no idea how he'd come to be where he was. The last thing he remembered was playing his favorite MMO Final Fantasy XIV and then the next thing he knew...he's here...well wherever 'here' was anyway. Looking to his side, he saw that his backpack was placed next to him.

"What's that doing here...?" He said to himself as he peered inside it. Inside lay his gaming laptop, and mouse, the normal things he'd use for gaming on the go whenever he had to leave his home for some reason, usually to go to conventions or when he was visiting family and had enough of dealing with them for the day. Among all of that was a note with beautiful handwriting that had merely two lines of text on it.

 _Welcome to Gensokyo_

 _Check your left wrist_

"My left wrist...?" John muttered looking at it...only to see that a bracelet was clasped around it, and while he'd never been a fan of gaudy jewelry; the stones that were embedded caused his jaw to drop. Sitting there was an exact likeness of the ninja job stone from Final Fantasy XIV. He never owned anything like this before, still it was a cool little trinket to have, after fiddling with it a bit, he'd found that all thirteen job stones were present. At least that was fitting for him, since he'd maxed every job to 60 (Which took a hell of a long time), another cool little feature was that the bracelet could rotate so that the other stones would then be facing up. It sort of reminded him of that old show Ben 10.

Looking around, he couldn't help but smile to himself; no one was around so he didn't have to worry about looking like a weirdo...which probably didn't change that he was probably going to look like a weirdo regardless.

"Alright..." he murmured rotating the bracelet to whitish-blue color with an etching of a shield on it belonging to the Paladin job "Let's go, Paladin!" He exclaimed loudly with his arm raised into the sky, before he could bring his arm down he was engulfed in a bright light before he was covered head to toe in armor instead of the jeans and black shirt he'd been wearing.

"Holy _shit_..." He muttered inspecting himself. This thing was the real deal...he had Curtana saddled on his right hip and the Holy Shield was on his back as well.

"I sure hope this isn't the item level 90 equipment and not my actual set up..." he said still in disbelief, while he'd leveled all classes to 60, he'd made sure to keep all the armor from each job's promotional artwork for future glamouring purposes .

"Huh...I wonder. Okay, let's try...ninja!" once more John was engulfed in a bright light, this time instead of wearing armor, he was now wearing the iconic purple and black Ninja outfit. Two daggers attached to hips.

"Not bad...but I feel like being knightly, so back to Paladin!"

Once more he was wearing the Paladin armor, and deciding to grab his backpack, and began heading down the path that lay out before him. Really, he had no idea where he was going, but it was midday and given the chill outside, he was sure it was winter too, so he needed to find somewhere to stay before night fell, and he was not much of an outdoorsman, even with the new abilities at his disposal.

After 2 hours of walking, John found himself outside of what appeared to be a rather large wall, two guards stood atop the gates peering down at him. Both had their hands on the hilts of their swords in case things got dangerous.

"Hold it, who are you?" Asked one of the guards

 _Okay, time to play this up like I would in the game..._ John thought

"Worry not; I am but a mere adventurer seeking refuge for the night within your walls! I hope that is alright with you!"

The guards looked at him for a few minutes with raised eyebrows "Where are you from...?" One of the guards asked

"Well...I'm from America really, but uh...where is _here_ exactly?"

"This is the human village within Gensokyo...I don't know what an America is, but...you seem to be telling the truth. Welcome, but don't let us hear about you causing any problems you got that, or you'll be in trouble!"

"Understood!" John replied with a smile as the gates opened. Once inside, he couldn't help but marvel at the village. It looked exactly like a Japanese village he'd see in an anime or a probably more accurate description would be Okami, the village was every bit as beautiful looking as the ones in that game. As he walked along, numerous inhabitants looked at him with curiosity. Some openly pointed, while others whispered some things he couldn't make out. He didn't care all that much though and continued strutting along, taking in all the sights around him. Really, he probably should have been more concerned that he was in a Japanese related place and far away from home, but with the new revelations of the day, he couldn't bring himself to worry...until he felt his stomach rumble.

This wasn't good.

"Do I...have any money?" he murmured to himself. This Paladin outfit didn't have any pockets on it, so there was only one way to check.

"How the hell do I go back to my normal self? Okay uh...John Graham!"

Nothing.

"Er...Commoner?"

Nothing again.

He was starting to attract looks now and that wasn't good.

"Crap...okay, uh...return?"

That did it. As per usual, a white glow enveloped him and he was back to his normal casual attire, though a lot of villagers were giving him more looks, some of pure shock...John figured it'd be best to move on before someone called the town guard on him. He...really didn't need or want that to happen.

Moving along, he felt inside his pockets. Nothing in there...well except for his cellphone, good thing he had that as his one-time password for XIV was on there, but besides that he was flat broke...wonderful. His stomach once more rumbled, and after talking to some locals he was able to find a ramen shop. The problem here is...he had no freaking _money_. So he was standing there in front of shop thinking...

"Alright so...if this were XIV, how would this play out..." He murmured, usually he'd talk to the owner and somehow get a nice little quest with the reward being food...he REALLY hoped that that's how things would go for him, taking a deep breath he stepped inside.

The ramen shop wasn't bad looking. It was nice and homely looking and there weren't many patrons in at the moment. Most were off in a singular corner that had a few spots to sit, there was a set of bar stools one could sit at to enjoy their food while making casual chatter with the proprietor of the place.

Speaking of, he was right there wiping the counter down. As John went to sit down, the man behind the counter gave him a welcoming smile. "Hey there friend...what can I do for you?"

"Well..." John started "I know this may sound strange, but I don't have any money, I was wondering if I could do something for you in exchange for a meal...?"

Please let this work...

"No money huh...so you're saying you wanna do a favor for me in return for some grub then?"

"If that's alright with you yes." Johh replied

The shop owner rubbed his chin for a moment; contemplating the offer "I suppose I can take you up on your offer. I'll even give you the food first as a sign of good will."

Stepping back towards the kitchen, the owner got to work whipping up a bowl of warm ramen, once finished he placed the bowl and a pair of chopsticks down next to him causing John to sigh. "No forks huh?"

"None sorry, now about what you could do for me: My son likes to play outside the village walls. Not too far away mind you, but still it's unsettling. He keeps talking about some youkai lady who tries to scare him."

"Youkai...? A type of monster?" John asked, his eyes wide with glee

"That's right, now from what I've heard this youkai is good with kids, or rather many children seem fond of her but...it's still a monster you know? I just want my son to be safe. It'll be nightfall soon and a lot of dangerous youkai come out around then, can you go get my son for me, he should be near the northern exit of the village. He's been staying out much later than normal and I don't want him gettin' eaten."

John nodded understandingly, and went to work on his ramen. It was pretty good, much better than the packaged stuff he'd eat at home. Being a post college wage-slave was something that made it difficult to go out and get actually decent food for dinner. Once he was finished his food, he set out of the ramen shop, his bag on his back. Just like before, people were still staring at him as if he were a walking freak show or something (and to some degree he was). After reaching the northern gates of the village and the guards hearing his reasons for heading out so close to nightfall, John began his trek looking around for the shop owner's son, which thankfully didn't take too long, as after about a 15 minute walk he found a small boy...who was cowering in fear as a girl with a large purple umbrella that had a tongue protruding from it along with a single eye loomed over top of him, a smile on her face. No doubt about it, that's the youkai he was told about.

"Guess it's time to get to work!" John said psyching himself up...this was going to be his first actual fight; He had to keep the child safe, so for that reason he figured it'd be good to go in as a tank. He once again transformed into his Paladin armor and began rushing towards the two of them.

 _ **BAM**_

"Gwuaaaaaah~" The girl cried as she was knocked back by the shield bash John had just performed on her.

"You alright kid?" He asked...only for the child to completely ignore him and rush to the female's side, he brushed her light blue hair to the side as he checked on her face before turning on John with an angry look.

"Hey what did you do that for?!"

John was taken aback by this; he was fully expecting to be thanked or something, just like in his game, not berated, especially not by a kid who was probably only 9 years old at best.

"Uh...wasn't she attacking you or something...?"

"She wasn't attacking me, I'm her coach!"

"...Coach?" John repeated completely bewildered

The child smiled proudly at John, "That's right; I'm training her to be the scariest youkai in all of Gensokyo, go on and go away already!"

"Huh..." John said to himself taking that all in. "Well then, I'm sorry Miss...?"

"Kogasa Tatara..." The turquoise haired girl groaned while she rubbed her face to try and numb the pain

"Well, the ramen shop owner sent me to get his son; he said he was concerned about his him being out so close to sundown with a youkai girl."

At these words, Kogasa's eyes become rather saddened. "I told you this would happen." She said to the child, "I told you your family wouldn't like this and I sort of agree with him, being out so close to nightfall isn't good."

"Don't worry about my dad Kogasa, he's just being stupid! Now let's get back to practicing."

Kogasa sighed "No, it would probably be better I leave, it is getting late after all."

With that the umbrella bearing girl floated into the sky before flying off

"Wait, come on, just wait a second Kogasa!" the child shouted as he ran after her, causing John to panic

"H-hey, don't run off, it's almost night time!" The boy didn't listen as he rushed off, which made John nervous as the sun was slowly dipping below the horizon. He had no choice but to chase after the two of them and hopefully get the kid back before anything bad happened.

Needless to say, something bad happened.

After chasing after the kid for who knew how long, he finally caught up with both him and Kogasa. The sun was completely down now...perfect.

"Why'd you follow me? It's dangerous at night!" Kogasa chided, she'd landed after the boy clearly wasn't going to leave her alone

"But...the training..."

"I'm thankful, really I am, but this won't work out. If you keep coming to train me like this, then rumors could spread in the village that I'm trying to abduct children or something and the last thing I need is a bunch of humans chasing me...worst of all, I don't want you getting in trouble."

"But I won't! I'll talk to my dad, I'm sure he'll listen!"

Kogasa sighed as Jack stood by and watched the exchange, he felt kind of awkward being present. There was clearly some kind of underlying issue here, but he wasn't sure how to go about handling it. The two continued to argue for a few minutes more before John heard a rustling in the bushes.

"Uh...guys...I don't mean to butt in on your argument, but I think we're not alone."

The two of them stopped their bickering as on cue a wolf-like creature leapt from the shadows. It was pretty big, at least as tall as John and he was just shy of six feet! It had dangerous claws on all four of its legs...and less said about the teeth the better.

"Ah...how lucky for me, I found dinner, get away from them tsukumogami, unless you wish to die by my claws as well. I don't much like eating fellow youkai."

The child was visibly frightened by what he was seeing, before John stepped in front of him to shield him from the beast.

"Sorry, but if you want dinner, you're going to have to work for it." He said raising Curtana at the monster

The youkai chuckled "Very well boy, I like working for my food...and I don't play by those foolish spellcard rules either."

"That's fine, because I have no idea what that is!"

The wolf gave John an incredulous look before letting that little revelation slide, John turned to Kogasa, giving her a nod. She'd keep the kid safe while he fought the creature off. The two combatants circled one another, each sizing the other up before the wolf lunged forward at John, attempting to aim at his neck, only to meet with the holy shield as he pushed him back.

The creature had a lot more strength than John anticipated, but he still was able to push him back. The beast snarled as he circled again before going in for another attack. This time John managed to sidestep him before he got close in a quick motion delivered a slice to his side, the monster let out a pained whine as it landed on the ground.

"Th-that sword, it's magic!? Clever play human..." the wolf stated standing back out. It was bleeding slightly, but not enough that it'd be slowed down

"Damn right it is, I did the entire relic quest line for 3.0 so far! You're looking at a level 60 Paladin!" John declared with a broad smile

Kogasa and the child stared at one another

"Kogasa...what's he talking about?

"I have _no_ idea..."

The youkai snorted at him charging once more, this time it zig-zagged a bit in an attempt to disorient John. He was able to get a bite on John's shield arm, but it didn't hurt too badly thanks to the armor, he could still feel it though. Using all the strength he could muster, John flipped the beast over, using his foot to hold it in place as he drove his sword through its upper chest. The monster let out a howl of pain as John repeatedly stabbed at him until his body stopped moving, the monster fading into unconsciousness as he bled out, John sighed looking away from it...the amount of blood trailing out of it was a bit unnerving to be honest."

"Wow...you're pretty strong mister." The child said in awe

"Thanks but uh...how about we get back to the village before anything else tries to kill us?"

Kogasa nodded in agreement, and the trio decided to get to walking. It took a while and thankfully no other monsters had popped out to try and kill them. As they approached the gate Kogasa stopped.

"Well, this is where we part ways." She said with a smile, though her red and blue eyes showed a small hint of sadness.

The child stomped his feet annoyed "Do you have to go Kogasa? You have to be tired after all that happened today and it's cold outside!"

"I've got an idea actually..." John interjected before she could speak "Kogasa, when we get to the gates follow my lead okay?"

"Um...okay I guess."

The three approached the gates and luckily the guards recognized John and were about to let him in until they noticed Kogasa.

"Hold it, no wild youkai inside the village!" One of them states

It was time for John to put his plan in action...he just hoped that Kogasa played along like he needed her to.

"Don't worry, this girl has sworn fealty to me!"

" _What."_ Everyone said together at this revelation

"We were attacked by a youkai, but I was able to kill it, and this lovely lady here named Kogasa was in such awe that she swore her life to me."

The guards looked unsure, they didn't find his story too believable, but thankfully Kogasa caught on.

"It's true, you should have seen master, he was amazing, I don't think I've ever seen someone as strong as him!"

That's good Kogasa!

"Yeah, this mister is pretty good, he took on this giant wolf youkai all by himself!" the child chimed in riding off Kogasa's words.

"A giant wolf youkai...?"

"Yeah it was as big as all 3 of us combined and this guy killed it all on his own while Kogasa kept me safe, he barely took any damage!"

The two guards let out audible gulps before opening the gates

"Well if that's the case, I guess we can let you in, I mean you _did_ save the boy and all...just keep that servant of yours on a leash got it?"

"Yes sir!" John cried as his little group shuffled in

The village was pretty dark at night and there were next to no sources of light and so he and Kogasa had to rely on the child to lead them to his father's shop. Once there, the boy's dad scooped him up into a tight hug, smiling at John and Kogasa. He gave her a pointed look, but after explaining everything that took place, his face softened considerably.

"I see, thanks a lot kid, I'm grateful to you for saving my son...you too Miss youkai."

"Um...it's Kogasa...if that's alright with you."

"Right, thanks , I'll admit, I'm not the biggest fan of youkai, but you stayed and made sure my boy was safe. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome here any time."

"Oh...thanks!" Kogasa said blushing slightly embarrassed

"And as for you kid, I'm sorry I can't give you free meals for life, but I'm thankful for you for doing what I asked and beating that monster down. This village is small and we could use some more good folks like you."

"Thanks, I appreciate the compliment."

"I mean it, if you got skills like that, you should try opening a business or something. I'm sure there's a bunch of troubles you could help solve...or at least I get that feeling anyway."

"That's...not a bad idea actually."

"Right well, I'll see you two some other time."

With a nod, John and Kogasa exited the ramen shop and began wandering the streets, wondering what their next course of action should be.

"So uh...I know this is late, but I don't think we've been properly introduced." Kogasa said

"Oh right, I got so caught up in things, I forgot, name's John Graham."

"And I'm Kogasa Tatara, and I'm gonna be the scariest youkai in all of Gensokyo!" She said with a grin

"Right...why are you trying to scare people? And why are you taking training from a 9 year old?"

"Well...I'm not too good at scaring people, so I've been trying to practice, that kid really wanted to help me out for whatever reason...I think he may be lonely."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, I never see him with other children whenever I come by and if I see him before running into anyone else like today, he drags me away for some practicing."

"Huh interesting, sounds like he has a crush." John teased

"Wh-what?! Oh shut up, a-anyway, where are we going to say for the night? I'm tired."

Oh...crap.

"Now about that..." John started "I may not have any money for an inn or anything like that...at all."

"Really...?" Kogasa groaned "And for once I thought I could get a nice bed. Well follow me, I know a place we can stay."

Following her John was led to a small house...well house was being generous; it was a rundown shack really. The structure looked like it was barely staying up, with the wood looking derelict and old, the windows were completely gone and once the two stepped inside, there were clearly some holes in the roof.

"Well...this is something." John said looking around

"It's the best we've got; we can stay the night here. According to the children, this is just some old house no in the village cares about, not even enough to knock it down." Kogasa sighed "That sure reminds me of myself..."

The hours passed as John and Kogasa spent some time talking, there wasn't much of anything else to do to pass the time. When he asked if she'd had anything to eat, Kogasa waved her dismissively, telling you she'd eaten enough 'surprise' from the guards when John pulled his little stunt earlier which baffled John until Kogasa explained that by surprising someone it'd be the same as eating to her, and It was the entire reason she wanted to scare people. The night went on as the two learned more about one another, Kogasa talking mostly about her scaring endeavors and John telling her a few things about his home, she was completely confused about some things like computers but he decided to spice things up a bit by throwing in some of the adventures that'd happened in XIV...he _technically_ did live through them after all. Eventually the two drifted off to sleep with morning finally arriving.

John woke up first, letting out a yawn, he apparently returned to his normal form overnight, since he was back in his normal clothing. He pulled out his phone to see the date 'January 5th 'on the screen. Turning it off (because he really wanted to save the power) he stood up and yawned. He was loud enough that Kogasa woke up soon after, standing and moving to the door.

"Leaving already?" He said yawning again

"Yeah, I'd better get going, I think I'll try hanging around the graveyard again."

 _That doesn't sound too fun John_ thought "Actually, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"What's that...?"

"Wanna start a business with me?"

"A...business, what kind of business?" Kogasa asked with her eyebrows raised

John smiled "Well it'll be a business where we offer a favor in return for another favor. See I was thinking about what that shopkeeper said yesterday, and with the abilities I have, I think I could help solve whatever problems the people of the village have and in return we'd get things like food and water...hopefully a bed at some point too because sleeping on the floor is uncomfortable."

"Well, what would I do?"

"You can be the secretary! If I'm out on a job and someone stops by, you can jot it down, or heck you can even take it on yourself."

"Well what do I get out of it?"

"Well...how about we work on your surprise tactics? I mean you always try to scare people, but there's other ways to surprise someone."

"How's that?" Kogasa asked, extremely interested now

"Well, like...what if you just gave someone a cake suddenly."

"Why would anyone be afraid of that?" Kogasa deadpanned

"You're missing the point; they don't _need_ to be afraid, so long as they're surprised right?"

"Huh...that's a good point actually. Okay...I think I can do this. I'll be your secretary John, what are we gonna call this business anyway?"

"I was thinking...Favor Trade."

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 **Man, I'm really bad with names. I had a hard time thinking of a name for the protagonist of this story, so I just opted to fall back on the name John. Well whatever I guess. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and look forward to the next.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Talk of the Town

**It's been a while hasn't it? I won't drone on here, I hope you enjoy Chapter 2!**

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It's been 3 weeks since John had arrived in Gensokyo and started up his 'Favor Trade' Business. Initially, he and Kogasa weren't getting much business, at most some small children would stop by and chat with them (mostly Kogasa since the children knew her better), but this was easily remedied by the ramen shop owner who still felt grateful for his son being saved and had decided to talk up their business a bit. This helped immensely as soon after that, numerous people would stop by, mostly with mundane tasks, like asking for help in maintaining their homes or babysitting some kids, while it wasn't glamourous it still netted the two some money or food to make it through the day, it really worked out well for Kogasa as whenever she took a job, the villagers would be surprised that John had a youkai under his employ that was good at tasks such as house cleaning, cooking, and blacksmithing of all things...

Which brought up a little problem: A _lot_ of the villagers thought that he and Kogasa were dating; the issue was brought up one day when he'd been asked to help guard the town gates for the night. The few guards stationed there were making idle conversation and mostly goofing off since in most cases, the night shift (hell even the day shift for that matter) were pretty calm. One guard had probably had a bit too much to drink that night popped the question, a few other guards who had heard came a bit closer wondering the same. According to them, quite a few people around town were wondering just what the relationship between the two of them were.

"So come on, spill it, are you really sleeping with that youkai girl?" The one guard asked, the smell of alcohol strong on his breathe.

"Nothing, we're just coworkers is all." John replied with a sigh he ran his hands through his jet black hair, this was getting annoyed with how this was constantly being asked

"Hey it's okay man, I won't judge you for getting some youkai tail, some of them are real lookers you know, like that one rabbit girl from Princess Kaguya's place."

"...Right, well, that's not how it is with me and Kogasa, I mean, yeah she's cute and all but it's not like that at all."

"Hah, so you admit she's cute!" Another guard chimed in "I wish you luck in your endeavors then John!"

John just sighed once more, the entire night went that way, and it was something he hoped never happened again. As he sat in the office, thinking back on it some more, Kogasa really was perfect wife material, like she was right out of an anime. She'd single-handedly cleaned up the office, and while it was still rundown, the interior was cleaned up rather nicely, enough so that the front room looked hospitable at least. There was a single bed that the two had to share that they'd managed to get after doing some work for a shop around town that sold such items along with a desk that John had set his computer on so he could game or do something to waste the time away.

In fact, that's what he was doing right now, he was curious as to why he'd woken up here with his computer, the village didn't look like it'd have an internet connection at all, but when he booted up his computer, he was getting full bars, which was strange to say the least. Curious as to if it was just a glitch or not, he opened up his browser and sure enough...it worked! He could watch videos, and browse whatever sites he wanted, but the real test awaited as he took out his phone and began booting up Final Fantasy XIV.

Sure enough, it worked! He could log onto the game, run fights just fine and he suffered no kind of dropped frames or anything...there was one thing he was curious about though...was his gear directly tied to his character? To test this out, in game he picked up an old paladin sword, one from the extremely old Garuda Hard Mode and slapped it onto his paladin class. Luckily for him the bracelet was still set to paladin and transforming...he did indeed have the Garuda sword as his main weapon instead of the Sharpened Sword of the Twin Thegns that he'd glamoured Curtana over. This was an interesting revelation to say the least. He quickly switched the weapon back in game and in real life his weapon had returned to what it was as well. Thinking on it, his potential to grow in abilities were nearly endless considering how MMO's worked, which was a boon to him, being able to get stronger was good, and the game _did_ have a new patch that'd come out recently allowing one to further increase the power of their anima weapons along with upgrading their armor to item level 270. Thankfully, John didn't need to do the latter part since he was big on the raiding scene for Alexander Savage. He was about to play the game some more when Kogasa walked in cheerfully, followed by a woman decked out in a blue outfit with brown eyes, long silver hair with some blue highlights and a hat with a strange little building on it topped off with a red ribbon, she was pretty cute looking too.

"John, I'm back!" Kogasa declared with a smile

"Welcome back Kogasa, I was wondering where you'd run off to this morning, did we get another job?" John inquired

"Well not really, I just was trying to get some more surprises out of people!"

"...And how'd that go?"

"Worked out great, that family didn't expect some rice balls for breakfast!"

"I see...and who's your friend here?" he asked looking over at the woman, who decided to speak up

"Hello, I'm Keine, Keine Kamishirasawa, I run the school just a bit of a ways away."

"Well, how can we be of service Ms. Keine? Kids need protecting; something you need repaired or cooked?"

"Oh no, nothing like that, it's just that the children have been constantly talking about 'Mr. White Knight' and have been begging to have you teach them some sword techniques, to that end I figured why not indulge them?"

"Is teaching sword techniques something that should really be done to a bunch of children? Not that I particularly mind."

Keine laughed "Oh it's quite alright, there's no doubt that some of those kids may very well become part of the village guard when they grow up, and so an early lesson isn't a bad thing at all. Now then about your payment..."

"No need, I'll consider this one a personal request, when should I show up?" John asked

"Really, well within the next hour would be marvelous!"

"I'll be there then, nice meeting you ."

"Same to you Knight, I look forward to your appearance."

"Please...call me John." He replied sighing at the name, it was really that catchy and he'd rather be known by name instead of such a lame nickname.

Keine, gave a small bow before exiting the office, leaving John and Kogasa alone, the umbrella girl rubbing her chin at the whole exchange "John...do you really think you can teach a bunch of kids swordsmanship?"

He couldn't blame her for questioning him, in truth, he had no formal training in the sword at all, but whenever he transformed into a paladin, his knowledge of the sword and shield was actually pretty good, and he somehow instinctively knew the skills and nuances of the class he invoked, that should be more than enough to get him by.

"I've never taught anyone before, but I should be fine don't worry."

"Well, if its fine with you, I think I'll come by and watch myself, I sort of wanna see how well the kids take to it."

"I don't mind you coming, just be sure to put up a sign letting people know we're out on business, that way we won't have them waiting around for us to get back."

Pretty soon, it's time for John to go and give his demonstration to the children. Leaving a sign that simply read 'currently out on business' he and Kogasa made their way to the school Keine taught at. It was pretty small all things considered with only one singular room for teaching and there were maybe only 15 or so seats. The children all stared at him in amazement at his white and blue armor, as Keine introduced him.

"Children, today I've requested John here to give you a demonstration in the art of swordsmanship, please treat him with respect."

The kids all nodded still staring at John, which caused him to tense up a bit. "Thanks Ms. Keine, I must admit I'm surprised at how small your school is, back home, there were way more kids per class room than this."

"Really, how many people attended school where you lived?"

"Altogether? My entire school body was something like 4,000 kids or more, and don't even get me started on college..."

"I see, well we can talk about that later, shall we move outside to proceed with the demonstration?"

"Oh uh, right, sorry for rambling there..."

The children all filed out, whispering things about John as they did. Once there, there were a few dummies set up for John to attack while the children stayed a safe distance away.

"Right...well let's begin with the basics..." John said "Never forget a swordsman's true companions the sword and shield. In the thick of a fight you'll want to do your best to watch out for yourself and your allies. A good way to let the enemies know you're a threat? Hit them with a move like this!" At that John did a small leap slamming his blade onto the ground which caused several lights to put up and strike the dummies...completely destroying them. The children were impressed all letting out ooohs and aaahs at the display, while Keine just sighed at the destruction.

"I expected those dummies to last a bit longer..."

"Oh uh...sorry ...but uh, right, doing that kind of thing will get the enemies attention and hopefully keep him focused on you, in that case be sure to block and parry as much as possible!"

He gripped his sword with both hands, bringing it in front of him "Shield Oath!" He exclaimed as a small light engulfed him.

"What'd that do Mr. White Knight?" a random girl asked

"That particular skill helps you increase your agro-er it uh, it helps you take hits better I mean. It's a special technique I learned in my travels and please, call me John." John let out an inward sigh, he probably shouldn't use game terms, mostly because he'd have to explain it, and that would really just snowball in a way he really didn't want. The demonstration continued for a little while longer with John showing off a few skills, most of which were just special sword slashes, and a few defensive cooldowns from the game but really got them was the use of Clemency, which surprised everyone that he knew such a potent piece of healing magic as a knight. He couldn't even imagine their faces if he showed off something like Black Mage or Summoner, those two particular jobs would really give them a surprise.

Having been bid farewell by the children and Keine once his time was up, John and Kogasa made their way back to the office, Kogasa complimenting him on his display, She was surprised he knew such techniques and skills, she figured that he was mostly an amateur when it came to swordplay and had gotten lucky against the wolf youkai a couple weeks ago. Needless to say that John didn't take too kindly to that and proceeded to give her a quick smack on the noggin.

Their banter was interrupted when a woman wearing a light red skirt, and white short-sleeved shirt approached them. She had purple hair and stunning red eyes, but what was most notable were the rabbit ears that protruded from the top of her head.

"Excuse me, you're that knight guy right?" she asked, most likely out of formality rather than being genuinely curious

"That's me, John Graham at your service."

"Right, I was told you take on requests for any fee, and I'll get right to the point, the princess has taken interest in you. I've been tasked with offering you some medicine in the hopes that you'd agree to meet with her."

"I see..." John muttered "Give me one moment." He pulled Kogasa away to the side, he didn't know anything about this rabbit girl or the princess, so he relied on Kogasa to give him any information.

"You know anything about this princess Kogasa? He whispered so the girl wouldn't here

"Nothing, I've never seen her before, though I have heard that she's beautiful and she had a lot of men fawning over her...the only other thing I know is that she's immortal."

"Immortal!?" John said loudly "Like, she can't die?"

"That's right, but that's all I know. I don't know anything about that girl either, only that she's in the village selling medicine usually."

"Right...so, it shouldn't be dangerous if I go along then?"

"I don't think so, the princess is in the bamboo forest, and if that girl works for her then odds are she knows the safest path."

"Alright thanks, you head back to the office; I'll go deal with this."

Kogasa nodded as John returned to the rabbit girl "Sure, I'll meet the princess, just give the medicine to my secretary, and we can be on our way."

"Right." The girl replied handing Kogasa small box of medical supplies "Oh right, name's Reisen by the way, I'll lead you through the forest, so stay close."

John nodded and the two began making their way through the dense bamboo forest, the stalks were so high they nearly blot out the sun. Reisen was quiet throughout the walk, not even turning back to John in attempt to make conversation. It was a bit unnerving for him, so he tried to strike up some form of conversation.

"So tell me Reisen, what got you to start selling medicine around town? The people of the village don't seem to mind you at all."

"Well that's thanks mostly to my master, they were suspicious at first, but once they learned how good my master's medicines were, they changed their tune rather quick. They don't even care that I'm a rabbit."

"Makes sense, there's this one guy I was on guard duty with one night who said you were-er never mind."

"What did one of the villagers say...?"

"It's nothing, just guy stuff." John said lamely, he didn't feel right just sharing something like that, for all he knew, that particular guard really did have a thing for Reisen.

"Okay then...I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

John breathed a sigh of relief as the two continued on, some small conversation going on between them before suddenly Reisen fell into a hole that'd been crudely covered up with some bamboo stalks.

"Oh goddammit, Tewi!" she exclaimed as John peered over the hole

"You alright down there?" John asked extending a hand to help her out.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said taking it "It's just a friend of mine who is really into pranks loves leaving these holes around. The good news is that this means we're close." She dusted herself on and lead on, making sure to avoid any more holes, though sometimes when she moved around one, another would be waiting for her...whoever this Tewi girl is, she's really crafty. He'd have to be careful around her. Finally after all the falling and walking the two reached a large old-fashioned looking mansion. It was quite serene looking, and the place as whole looked quite relaxing.

There were a bunch of girls with rabbit ears running around and as John and Reisen approached they looked at him curiously. Some began whispering as they watched the two enter the front hall, which had a receptionist's desk at the front, similar to one you'd see in a doctor's office.

"You guys run a hospital here too?" John asked surprised

"Yeah, in case any of the other rabbits or humans or even some youkai gets really sick or if someone suffers a real bad wound, we bring them here. Now then, we've kept the princess waiting enough. When you get inside be sure to be as proper as possible, it's not often the princess asks for visitors."

John nodded as Reisen led him down some rather wide hallways; they were massive, and big enough to fit a whole car in them if it came to that point. After a few turns though he was shown into a room where a beautiful woman with long black hair in the hime cut style sat. Her shirt was pink with a with a lot of white bows going down the front and a burgundy skirt that had bamboo and flower shapes on it.

"Ah you are the knight I presume? I am Kaguya Houraisan, princess of Eientei. I welcome you to my home."

She sure was proper, so much so that John was silent for a moment before responding

"Oh err...thanks for inviting me princess, I'm really humbled you decided to call me here." He replied awkwardly while attempting to bow sincerely, the whole thing made Kaguya chuckle as she motioned for him to sit down. A random rabbit girl came through the door with tray that had tea on it, setting it on the table that was between the two. Suddenly feeling a bit thirsty, John couldn't help himself but down the entire cup in one go. It was hot and he scrunched his face as he downed it all, but still it felt good to have something to drink."

"Is it to your liking?" Kaguya asked watching him

"It's fine, I'm more of a lemonade man myself, but it'll do."

"Hmm, I'll keep that in mind."

"So uh, if you don't mind me asking princess, why'd you want to see me?"

"Well, I've heard you've been the talk of the town for the last couple of weeks thanks to my pet who goes into town. And so I was curious."

"Well I'm sorry, but I'm not that amazing really." John said bashfully

"Nonsense, I've been told about how you offer your services to the people, and they don't even need money, quite generous really. But that aside, my request was not simply tea and meetings, I have a more personal request, if you would indulge me."

"Well, you gave me medicine, so I don't see why not."

"Would you share some stories with me? It is extremely boring here and I'd like to hear some stories from one who is as well traveled as you."

"Stories huh..." John thought for a moment, he could just share some of the stories from the game that should have sufficed more than enough. "Well how about I tell you about my adventures dealing with Alexander?"

"Alexander...? Who is that?"

"Well, it's less of a whom and more of _what_."

John then went on to talk about the entire Alexander raid (not mentioning that it was all a game of course) as Kaguya clung to his every word, she was extremely enamored with it all, her eyes growing wide when John mentioned the numerous robotic creatures that he'd had to fight through with his friends to finally take down Alexander proper in an climatic battle, needless to say Kaguya was impressed.

"To think that the outside world would have such strange things...machines that can bend the fabric of time to their will. I thought that only I and that maid could do that..."

"It was pretty crazy and sort of cool really, I'm surprised I managed to come out of it okay."

"Likewise, you lead a truly exciting life Mr. Graham, if only I could join you, it'd be more interesting than sitting around all day and dealing with the occasional...nuisance ."

"Too bad you don't have a cellphone, we could keep in contact and if I got any real interesting jobs I'd be glad to take you along with Kogasa, it'd be like an adventurer party of our own."

At this, Kaguya's eyes grew wide as a grin came upon her face. "Mr. Graham, if I may...could I see this 'cellphone' of yours?"

John raised an eyebrow but reached into his pocket sitting his phone on the table. Kaguya took it, looking at it with interest "And this device could be used to keep in contact with one another?"

"That's right, if you had your own that is. I doubt anyone else in this world would have one actually."

"I see, I have a request Mr. Graham. I would like to hold onto this device if you would allow it."

"But why's that?" John replied

"Eirin!" Kaguya called out, her call was soon answered by a woman with long braided silver hair, who wore a red and blue outfit. She shot John a pointed look of curiosity before shifting her gaze to Kaguya.

"You called for me Princess?"

"Mr. Graham, this is Eirin Yagokoro, she's the villages main source of medicine and my humble and faithful servant. Eirin, I was wondering if you could replicate this device at all, it is used for keeping in contact with another person."

Eirin took the cellphone and stared at it "I suppose I can, it'll just take a while to look over it and see how it works."

"Excellent, Mr. Graham, if you would allow it, I'd like to hold on to this device for a time, when Eirin is finished I will have it returned to you via Reisen, if that is fine with you."

"I guess it'll be fine, just please don't break it or anything."

"You have my word." Eirin spoke "It will be returned to you in the exact same condition as it is now." She bowed politely as she did so, which made John blush a little "Err, no need to bow, I trust you. If that's the case I should get going then, the sun is going to go down soon."

"Very well, Reisen will accompany you, and I hope you return again with more stories to tell." Kaguya said waving him off

"Call me when you want to hear more princess, I'll be happy to oblige you."

With that, John was led back through the bamboo forest, the sun quickly dipping below the horizon. Once back, Reisen returned the way she came, leaving John to walk back the rest of the way on his own.

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

Marisa was flying away from the Scarlet Devil Mansion; her clothing was in tatters and pain rippled throughout her body. She had decided to stop by the mansion in order to 'borrow' some of Patchouli's books, but the gate guard Hong Meiling had different plans for her, namely the plan was for Marisa to get her ass kicked six ways from Sunday.

The frustrating part for Marisa was that it had worked, several times! The gate guard had gotten a lot stronger than she ever expected and Marisa was finding it difficult to think of ways to get by her. Even her trademark master spark hadn't been able to defeat her and that was usually a sure thing! To this end, she was making her way to the village to indulge in some food to take her mind off of things. As she landed near the gates, she noticed that night was creeping upon the earth. She was surprised that she had been fighting Meiling for that long, but it's no big deal, she had the appropriate wards set up back at home so getting home won't be a problem for her. As she walked around town she heard more talk of this 'White Knight' and how he was great at helping people with whatever problems they had so long as you gave him something in return, it didn't even have to be money! He and the youkai Kogasa seemed to be really making a name for themselves around town. It was then that Marisa got an idea...a sinister idea and probably one that would get her sent to hell...nah, it wouldn't escalate that bad...maybe.

She decided to put her need for food on hold and made her way to the side of town where this guy's office was located. When she found it...she had to wonder what kind of 'office' this was, because for all intents and purposes the place was a crappy little shack that was in desperate need of repairs, regardless, this seemed to be the place and so Marisa knocked on the door.

"Hey, is this that Favor Trade place ze?" she called out

"Just a minute!" Came a voice before the door swung open, there was Kogasa standing there with a bright smile on her face. "Hello and welcome to Favor Trade, we pride ourselves on getting the job done no matter what!" her smile hardened somewhat when she noticed it was Marisa who was the door

"That's a good slogan ze, You know where that Knight guy is at?" Marisa asked looking around

"Oh John, he was at Princess Kaguya's place and-"

"I'm back!" John called from behind the two "Whose this Kogasa?"

"She's Marisa...careful she doesn't try to beat you up after helping her." Kogasa spat

"H-hey, I said sorry about that! I was in a rush!"

Kogasa rolled her eyes as John motioned for her to enter the office, Marisa standing since there wasn't really any other places to sit. "So how I can help you?" John asked

"Well you see..." Marisa stated she hadn't really thought about how she was gonna go about this "I heard you can help someone out with any problem no matter what."

"Well, I mean I don't wanna brag but I've got a good track record so far." John said smiling bashfully

"That's good, because I need your help to sneak into a vampire's mansion." Marisa said bluntly

"I'm sorry what?" John deadpanned; he hadn't been expecting something like that at all, an actual vampire? He wasn't sure if he could take one on even with the skills at his disposal

"Hear me out...this vampire has a magician who lives with her...and said magician stole some books from me! You don't need to actually go inside, I got that handled, but there's a real strong gate guard there and I need your help. Think you can distract her while I head inside to grab the books. We'll book it out of there once I'm done."

"Okay...but what about the vampire?"

"Good point. If we went now, we'd have to deal with her...let's head out tomorrow then ze and I'll even give you a few of these magic potions as a show of good faith."

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow then." John said as Marisa turned to leave, a devilish smile on her face once her back was turned, that was easy... all too easy.

* * *

 **Sorry if it seems like this particular chapter had what appears to be a lot ofnothing going on. I wanted to show that, while Gensokyo does indeed have people with crazy requests (I mean just look at Marisa's) there are other more lesser crazy ones, such as Kaguya's or Keine's. That aside I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3: Breaking into the SDM

**Boy oh boy, this one has been a long time coming hasn't it? I guess I should apologize for this one taking a while, but I was distracted by other writing endeavors for a bit and before I knew it, March had come and gone. But hey! Better late than never right?.**

 **New Universe Returns: I don't know if you're still around, but I feel like I should address your comment some more. The reason I don't think I'd be making any other stories like Favor Trade but with someone who was a Fire Emblem pro instead of a Final Fantasy is mostly because all those series you listed, I haven't really touched any of the series you mentioned at all. I've played maybe one Secret of Mana game but that was well over 10 years ago And I don't think I'd do those other series justice if I tried writing about them.**

 **Anyway, enough talk I'll leave you to enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

It was early morning and John was still nervous. He didn't really get a good night's sleep what with having the prospect of helping infiltrate a vampire's mansion sitting in the back of his mind. Sure, according to Marisa, said vampire would not be making an appearance at all, especially if he just hung around outside and did all the fighting, but even so he couldn't help but feel somewhat anxious about the whole ordeal. Still eventually Marisa came knocking at his door, ready to get going.

"Yo, I'm here!" She called once John opened the door "You ready to do this ze?"

"Uh sure..." John replied not all that excited

"Come on, what's with that look? You aren't scared are ya?"

"Well it's not everyday someone rolls up and says "Hey, let's break into a vampire's house."

Marisa let out a sigh before draping an arm around John's shoulder "Come on, I got your back here. Like I said before, all you gotta do is act as a distraction; I'll be handling the hard part."

"Yeah...yeah you're right, I already accepted, so I can't go backing out now." John said with renewed determination "Besides, this gate guard can't be that tough right?"

"That's what I want to hear! Now let's go!"

After bidding farewell to Kogasa, who promised to keep the office running while he was out, John and Marisa walked to the entrance of the village before Marisa began flying off on the broomstick she was carrying, While John was in awe at first, but he quickly got over it and yelled for Marisa to wait. Thankfully, the black and white witch heard him and came back down.

"You can't fly?" She said incredulously

"I'm afraid not, most humans can't do that you know."

"Fine, I get it ze, hop on." She said patting the back of her broom

Without missing a beat, John got on, he was a bit taller than Marisa, so he took up some more room but it didn't seem to be too much of a problem.

"Now hold on tight!"

"Wait whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!"

Before he could really get his question Marisa zoomed into the sky, going ridiculously fast as John nearly fell off the thing before he grabbed onto Marisa's waist to keep himself steady. He took several short breathes before he could finally get his words out.

"What the hell is wrong with you, I could have died!"

"Oh you'll be fine." Marisa said laughing loudly "Oh and make sure to keep your hands in the proper place, I ain't afraid to drop you if you try getting frisky got that!"

"Yeah I got it." John muttered

 _It's not like you really have much to grab anyway_ he thought while grabbing just a bit more tightly

As the two continued flying, John had to admit one thing: Gensokyo was positively beautiful from this viewpoint. There weren't any buildings or lights from city buildings like back home in his world, so he could see quite a bit from where he was. Not far off he could see a beautiful sunflower field and to his left there was a temple. Further out to the west, there was a mountain too. In fact there were quite a few things he couldn't quite make out entirely, but even so the beauty of Gensokyo wasn't lost on him.

"Man flying like this is cool..." He muttered

"Don't get to comfortable, we'll be setting down soon!" Marisa called back

The two were now flying over a massive lake at break neck speeds still, but as they did John saw something slowly come up on the horizon. A large mansion, completely red with a large clock tower on it, it was actually pretty beautiful looking from the outside, and the distinct European look it had really made it stand out from the usual Japanese style buildings he saw in the human village.

Marisa began to slow down as the two of them got closer to the mansion, eventually heading off to the side and landing in the bushes nearby. They had a clear view of the front gate which was quite large up close and there was a woman in a green dress that had red hair, with a beret on her head that was decorated with a bright gold star.

"There's your target." Marisa whispered to him

"That's the gate guard?" He asked with a raised eyebrow

"That's her alright, now get out there!"

"Wait...so how does she fight?"

"What do you mean?"

"What does she do her usual fighting style I mean?"

"Oh...well she usually mixes martial arts with her attacks and things like that. It shouldn't be a problem though; you've got armor you wear right? Speaking of where _is_ your knight stuff? Don't tell me we came all this way and you forgot!"

Marisa had been so excited about getting into the mansion she'd completely overlooked that John wasn't wearing the armor she'd seen him in the day prior, how the heck was he going to help her if he didn't bring anything?

"Don't worry; I think I got a much better way to handle this girl. A knight won't get her attention, so instead..." John murmured messing with the bracelet until a yellow stone with what looked like a claw design was face up on it "Let's see how she handles a monk!"

In a flash of light, John was no longer wearing his normal black shirt and blue jeans, instead now he was wearing a yellow outfit with armor on the shoulders, knees, and legs with a small feather on his head to top everything off. On his waist were two gauntlets that had the shape of lion's heads.

"That's an interesting trick you got there..." Marisa muttered in awe

"You wait till I've got her distracted, and then slip in while you can." John said walking out of his hiding spot

"You got it ze, give her hell!"

John sure hoped that this idea of his worked; he walked up to the woman who upon closer inspection was sleeping soundly, now he had to figure out how to wake her up. He tried tapping her shoulder, but that didn't work, he then proceeded to shake her rather violently but that didn't work either...

"What is with this girl?" He said leaning against the gate before jumping out of the way as the girl had suddenly lunged for him.

"Who are you?" She said looking fierce and already assuming a stance

John didn't know what happened, but at least she was awake now.

"Oh uh...well I was looking for you actually."

"Me...?" She said not dropping her stance while looking at him with a raised eyebrow

"Yeah, I heard there was a mighty martial artist here, so I came to challenge you to a map!" John exclaimed trying to look intimidating himself

"A duel...?" The girl repeated "A danmaku duel?"

"Uh no...? I was thinking more of a straight kung-fu fight ya know?"

At this the girl's aqua colored eyes went wide as she dashed over to John with a smile, "This is great! I didn't think there was anyone else around who practiced martial arts, my name is Hong Meiling, who are you?"

"Name's John Graham, a monk of Rhalgr." John said "So would you care for a duel then?"

"Of course, I'd be honored to! Be careful though, I'm pretty good." She smirked

"So am I." He replied while smirking back while putting on his gauntlets

The two walked a small distance apart, the world seeming to stop as they both assumed fighting stances, Marisa watching from her hiding spot as the two began to go at it. In a shocking display of speed the two practically flew at one another as their punches collided with one another. John felt a slight tingle of pain jolt through his body but it was nothing he couldn't take.

Meiling began throwing a barrage of kicks and punches as she tried to hit John, barely missing with most of them, while he'd black any others that'd come his way.

"Guess this is my time to sneak in ze..." Marisa whispered to herself as she moved out. She'd have to climb the wall; she couldn't risk Meiling spotting her flying in. So she'd have to do her best to get over the walls without causing too much of a ruckus.

Back with John and Meiling the two clashed once more, their fists meeting one another before Meiling came around for a hook with her left hand that John managed to dodge. He came in for a kick which Meiling moved to block, but this was just what he'd wanted. He stopped short with his kick and then procced to jab Meiling right in the face, breaking her guard and making her stumble backwards. This was the opening he needed, as he moved in with more kicks and punches each getting faster as he attacked. It was one of the key features of the Monk job from XIV. After completing combo attacks they'd get a stacking buff known as Greased Lightning (No, not the car) which increases not only their attack speed, but also their attack power too!

With a one last punch John sent Meiling skidding back against the gate to the mansion falling to her feet as she began breathing heavily

"Tch...What's that aura around him...some sort of chakra control?" Meiling muttered as she got back to her feet looking him over as John remained in his stance, whatever he was doing she'd have to counter it.

"I don't know what kind of chakra powers you've got, but if you really want it to be like that..." Meiling took a deep breath as she began to control the chi within her, a beautiful rainbow colored aura surrounded her body as she did this. John had to admit, it was beautiful to look at, so much so that he nearly wanted to stop fighting and just admire its beauty. That thought was interrupted though when Meilng flew at John much faster than before. This time it was too fast for him to dodge as she hit him straight in the chest, causing him to fly back and hit a tree.

"Ugh..." John groaned getting back to his feet. "Damn that hurt."

"You're a lot stronger than I expected!" Meiling said with a smirk "Any normal human would have at least been knocked out from that attack, or probably near death."

Was she bragging now? It totally felt like she was bragging.

"I'm not finished yet!" John exclaimed getting back to his feet

"That's good; I don't want the match to be over so soon!"

"Get read then, I'm giving you all I got! Fists of Fire!" John howled as flames wreathed around John's wrists.

"E-eh...?" Meiling muttered

"Internal Release!" he yelled again, as he made a small pose

"W-what are you doing...?"

"Blood for Blood!"

"That one's just scary sounding! Are these spell cards?!"

"Bloodbath!"

"That's just as scary!"

"And finally, Perfect Balance!" John yelled again before dashing at Meiling, she was caught off guard by the sudden yelling of those...whatever they were before, so all she could manage to do was block as John landing a sickeningly powerful punch on her, enough to knock her back just like she'd done to him.

"Not slowing down, Fists of Wind!"

He dashed at Meiling again, this time far faster than before, the gate guard, barely standing up before she was hit with numerous blows to the face, stomach and legs, she couldn't get any blocking in and ending up slumping over in pain, admitting defeat.

"Huh...maybe I overdid it...?" John murmured as Meiling lay groaning on the ground, he moved to pick the warrior up and prop her against the wall of the mansion...well at least his part of the plan was done. All he could do now was wait for Marisa to get him out of here; there was no way he could get over or around the lake fast enough without her.

Marisa had managed to get into the mansion while all this was going on. Once she 'd successfully gotten over the wall, she quietly hovered her way up to the clock tower, a perfect entry point for her plan. She looked back and saw John and Meiling going at it. She actually felt a little bit bad about what she was going to. Not enough to _stop_ of course, but still, just a little bit bad nonetheless. She slowly opened the door that lead to the mansion from clock tower and the second she saw no one around, she gave the old trademark calling card of hopping on her broom and soaring down the halls at breakneck speeds. Zooming throughout the mansion, it wasn't long before the fairy maids were on high alert doing their best to try and stop her.

Of course, these are fairy maids we're talking about, so Marisa cut through the swathes of them all like a hot knife through butter.

Soon enough, she'd reached her destination: The Great Library, the dwelling of her friend and fellow magician Patchouli Knowledge.

"I should have known Meiling wouldn't be able to keep you out forever." came the voice of a girl clad in what could only be described as a purple nightgown complete with a purple cap with a crescent moon shape on it.

"Heh, I had a secret weapon that was able to take care of her, now get on the floor and gimme the books ze!" Marisa chortled

"Astronomer's Magical Stone!" Patchouli yelled suddenly, holding a card in her hand, what followed next were four stones hovering around Patchouli as she began firing off a large wave of danmaku, each stone firing some off as well.

"Jeez, not even willing to banter before you get down to tossing? Fine with me, Love Sign, Non-directional laser!" Marisa yelled out

What followed was a clash of lasers and magic as the library shook from the attacks that were fired off. Thankfully for Patchouli, all of her books were enchanted to protect from danmaku as well as being dropped in water or whatever else could do grievous harm to an innocent book, the fight continued on with Patchouli throwing out some of her better spells, she wasn't as sickly anemic as usual, so she was able to throw out some royal flares, giant ice javelins, exploding rocks, even large vines, but despite Patchouli's best efforts, she was defeated by Marisa's trademark (and I use that term loosely) master spark.

"M-mukyu..." Patchouli groaned in pain, her pajama-like outfit was now in tatters and the pain was too strong for her to get up off the ground, so all she could do was helplessly watch as Marisa pilfered a wide array of books, stuffing them haphazardly into a magic sack she carried on her person at all times whenever she found something that caught her interest...like that bracelet John had, now _that_ was an interesting treasure, but she'd have to save trying to get that off of him some other time. She'd think about that later though, it wouldn't be long before the maid showed up or even worse, Flandre would appear. She did not want to stick around and 'play' with the younger vampire, so she made sure her sack was secure and grasping tightly to her broom she flew out of the hole that her master spark had created in the roof , cackling to herself all the while.

Back on the ground, John saw Marisa flying over him with the sack. "Looks like she did it!" he said smiling to himself, "Hey Marisa, down here!" he shouted as loud as he could to try and get her attention, but she just kept on flying.

"Wait, don't leave me!" He called out even louder, but she kept on going, he could swear he saw her shift her head back a bit before flying off even faster.

"What the hell, did she just leave me out to dry?!" He exclaimed in anger, why the hell would she do that? Maybe this was why Kogasa wasn't too thrilled to have Marisa around. But that didn't matter; he had to get out of here, the best chance he had of getting back to the village would be circling around the lake, even if that would take hours. He looked down at Meiling who was still knocked out; at least she'd be okay, she was still breathing and all that after all.

He went to take a step forward when suddenly he bumped into a woman wearing a silver-haired woman wearing a dark blue maid's outfit with a small white apron on the skirt and a matching white headpiece, her eyes were a stunning blue, and she'd be pretty cute if it weren't for the scowl on her face as she stared at John.

"Um...hello I'm-"

His words were cut short when she grabbed his shoulder swiftly, he could feel himself...slowing? The world was becoming black and white, and while he could barely move, the maid woman was moving easily and without problem. The next thing he knew he was in a room, his arms and legs were restrained as he sat in a chair.

"W-what the hell, where am I? What happened, why am I stuck in this chair?!" he turned his head to see the maid staring at him.

"The mistress shall speak with you later tonight." She said plainly

"Wait wha-"

 _THWACK_

The maid delivered a sickening blow to John's head with a skillet she'd picked up after tying him up. She was irritated beyond belief and she didn't want to listen to the young man wailing all day while he was in here, especially since she had so much to clean up now that Marisa had come through and gone about her usual business of recklessly destroying parts of the mansion.

Hours passed before John regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he had a splitting headache. Looking down at himself, he could see that he was still in his monk attire, but that meant little if he didn't find a way out. As he began to struggle against his restraints, the maid from before entered the room, sighing as she saw him struggling, she walked over and began undoing his bindings.

"Listen well. The mistress has tasked me with informing you that she has graciously invited you to dinner...or well breakfast in her case. Now then, you will follow me to where she is, and do not try to harm me or escape. It will not end well."

"And why should I trust you?" John spat back

"Well, to be blunt, you don't have a choice. You don't know how to navigate the halls of the mansion and I'm sure you would not be able to withstand an assault from the forces that reside here."

Damn, she had him there, he had no idea who or what was in this place aside from the vampire (Which he guessed was the mistress) and this maid. She had some weird power that managed to freeze everything but him...it sort of reminded him of that one show that a lot of people talk about, Jojo or something like that.

"Fine, whatever I guess." He said rather rudely as the last of his restraints were released. "Well then lead the way uh..."

"Sakuya Izayoi, head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion." She said with a bow "Now come."

She walked out of the room, having John follow behind her as he gawked at the size of the mansion. The halls were huge, with there being enough room to fit at least a dozen or so trucks inside. He had trouble keeping up with Sakuya since he was so enthralled. The red carpet was lavish looking and what few windows they passed by had some rather nice stained glass artwork on them. As the two walked, numerous fairies in maid outfits flew about doing nothing of importance, some simply talking and joking, while others were sleeping in midair.

"Quite the work force you got here..." John muttered

"Don't remind me please." Sakuya sighed

The two walked together for a bit longer until they were taken to a dining room with a rather long table. At the table sat a girl in purple sleepwear, she was glaring daggers at John and it looked like she was ready to punch him or choke him or inflict some form of bodily harm to him. Across from her sat Meiling, who was cheerfully humming to herself, though she raised an eyebrow when John entered. At the head of the table was a small girl, who looked no older than 10 years old at the very least. She wore a pink dress with a pink mob cap to match, her eyes were a red and John couldn't help but feel an aura of danger from her. The most notable thing about her though, had to be the two bat wings protruding from her back, and the two fangs that peeked out from her lips. No doubt about it, this girl was the vampire that Marisa had talked about, although she was a bit more...cute than he had originally expected.

"Milady the...guest is here as you ordered." She said with a bow putting a particular strain on her voice with the word 'guest'.

"Well done Sakuya, that will be all, please begin serving the food."

"At once milady."

John just stood there, he was expecting to be tortured or something, maybe chained to a chair in here and beaten by Meiling? He did kind of beat her pretty badly earlier, but everyone here just seemed to be going about their usual business

"Well, aren't you going to take a seat?" The vampire child asked motioning for him to sit in a spot close to her.

"Uh...sure?" he replied still completely bewildered at everything that was going, he took his seat as Sakuya set a plate down before him. It was surprisingly delicious looking, with a healthy mix of meats and vegetables and there was even a nice drink set before him as well.

"Wow...I don't think I've ever seen something this good before." John muttered

"By all means, do enjoy yourself; Sakuya's cooking is by far much better than what the humans of that village ever eat. Oh silly me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Remilia Scarlet, master of this mansion...and you are?"

"John Graham...uh, not really a master of anything I guess." He said picking up his fork and digging into the meat, stuffing some in his mouth.

"...Charmed, I must ask you Mr. Graham, just how...or rather why did you aid Marisa in infiltrating my mansion? And at that you were able to best Meiling, something that no normal human would be able to do at all."

John swallowed his food hard at that. This girl wasn't wasting any time; he didn't expect her to cut to the chase like that. But maybe he could use this time to try and get some more information on Remilia and the mansion inhabitants?

"I dunno if I should tell you, where are your parents anyway? You seem a bit young to be running a mansion all on your own."

"Answer the question!" the purple clad girl said suddenly "That thief made off with at least 30 of my books and I want them back!"

"Oh my, I've never seen Patchouli react like that." Sakuya said with a giggle

"This isn't funny!"

"Wait... _you're_ books? I was told that you stole books from Marisa and that she was having a hard time getting them back."

John's words were met with silence as Remilia and Meiling began laughing rather loudly, even Sakuya had to do her best to stifle her laughter so as to not tarnish the regal aura she perpetually emitted, while Patchouli just seemed even more annoyed than before.

"What's so funny? What did I say?" John asked innocently, now he was just starting to feel embarrassed at all the laughter, which he felt was at his expense

"That black-white witch _always_ comes here to try and raid my library. Meiling was doing a good job keeping her at bay in recent months...until _someone_ came and ruined that." Patchouli said glaring at John

"O-oh...well uh, I'm sorry?" He said sheepishly

"Sorry? SORRY?! Sorry is not going to cut it, I want my books back and you are going to get them!"

"What, why me?!"

"Because you're the reason they were stolen in the first place!"

"Patchouli please calm down." Remilia said with a giggle "that is indeed a reason I had you brought here, while I do not normally tolerate people coming into my mansion uninvited, you are an interesting person, and I do so enjoy interesting things!" She gave John a rather unsettling stare, which made him turn away.

"Uh...well I guess that is a fair reason, that and well, I fancy myself a bit of a mage as well and I would probably be pissed too if someone stole my books."

At this Meiling spoke up "You're a mage? I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not really sensing any magic from you. That chakra control was something I've never seen before though, who taught you that?"

"Just an old friend of mine, he taught me the ways of the Fist of Rhalgr." John replied

"Fist of Rhalgr...? I don't think I've ever heard of that." Meiling murmured

"That aside, I don't sense much magical capabilities from you." Patchouli said "So I find it a bit difficult to believe that you have any idea what the life of magician could be like."

At this, John smirked widely "Alright then...to that I have but only one word to say."

"And that would be?" Patchouli said as her eyebrow rose

"Scholar."

A flash of light engulfed John, when it dissipated; he was now wearing a green jacket with a yellow shirt and brown leggings, he also now had a pair of glasses and a mortarboard on his head, he couldn't help but smile at Patchouli "Now then, do you feel any different?"

Patchouli (as well as everyone else present) were left awestruck by what happened. They'd never seen something like this before and Patchouli took several moments to compose herself.

"What...did you do? The magic I feel from you is through the roof!" she exclaimed

"As I said, I fancy myself somewhat of a mage myself. To that end, I would be quite happy to help you, however there is but one stipulation I have."

"What, you actually have the gall to _demand_ something after what you did?" Remilia growled

"And what's with your language, you weren't speaking like that before..." Meiling chimed in rubbing her chin

"It matters not; I only make the demand so that I may better help you in obtaining your stolen goods."

"Fine, what is this stipulation?" Patchouli asked

"The lake is too vast, and it would take hours for me to cross on foot, as such I would like be instructed on how to properly achieve aviation functions."

"Uh...what did he say?" Remilia asked peering towards Sakuya

"I believe he is saying he wishes to learn how to fly mistress."

"That would be the gist of it. Now would miss...I'm sorry, I've not learned your name."

"Patchouli"

"Ah yes, Miss Patchouli seems like she'd be a perfect instructor for this endeavor, I would like to begin practicing tomorrow, once I return."

"Return?" Remilia scoffs "Don't be foolish, you aren't leaving here until you fulfill your end of the bargain."

John's eyes went wide "B-but I must! I run a business, and I cannot leave my secretary to deal with the office all alone while I am out!"

"Frankly, I don't care...however; I know the problems that can occur when one leaves their place of work while busy with other matters. To that end, I shall have Sakuya deliver a message to this secretary of yours."

"Well, that's good. Tell her that I will be gone for a week."

"A week?!" everyone exclaimed at the same time

"Why would it take so long to get my books back?" Patchouli sighed

"Simple, if we were to try and make a move now, Marisa would no doubt be ready for us. Given that she is a witch, I would no doubt expect her to have wards of a sort around her dwelling, and she'd probably reinforce them if I or anyone else she knows that resides here were to appear at her home."

"A solid point...but why a week's wait?" Remilia asked

"We let her grow complacent, let her revel in her supposed victory, then when the time is right, we move in and steal the books back, simple no?"

"That...makes some sense actually. It could actually work." Patchouli nodded

"There is but one problem, we would need something to draw her out in case she's home when we make our move. I'm sure I'll have no problem sneaking into her home, but if she's actually in there, then that would be problematic."

"Then...I suppose I will be the distraction then." Patchouli said with finality "I should be able to keep her distracted long enough while you do what you have to."

"Sounds like we have a plan then, I hope we work well together." John said taking a swig of his drink

"Likewise, besides, you've gained my interest John." Patchouli said eyeing him over

"With this transformation, you went from giving off very little magical energy to practically bursting with it; I'd love to learn more about how you were able to cause something like that to happen."

John thought on that for a moment. The soul stones were his trump card right now, he had to be cautious about who he let know about it, if anyone at all, especially here of all places. Not too long ago Sakuya had cracked him over the head and just moments ago Remilia threatened him as well only but a few moments ago.

"Sorry, but that is a...personal matter. Perhaps some time in the future I will share that knowledge with you, but for now, I believe we should focus on the task at hand, as well as helping me learn to fly."

"Very well, we begin tomorrow then." Patchouli sighed, her eyes showing a hint of sadness at not being able to get her hands on the information she wanted

And so the night came and went, John having been herded back to the room that Sakuya had thrown him into. It'd act as his lodgings for now until next week when he'd undergo the mission.

The next day, Sakuya had departed to deliver John's message that he'd be staying at the mansion, and according to the maid she'd begged to come along to see him and make sure he was really okay. Unfortunately for her, Sakuya would have to ask her mistress if that was okay, and since she was a vampire, that meant that she wouldn't be waking up until nightfall. So the umbrella girl would at most have to wait another full day, however she was able to send John's bag with Sakuya once she had been brought up to speed on the situation.

John was thankful for Sakuya being so helpful once he'd heard that the message had been delivered, but he had to meet Patchouli to get his flight training underway. As such, Sakuya led him to the library, which he stopped and marveled at. He was completely floored by how huge the bookshelves were. They were large enough to walk on and John couldn't even see the top of some of them.

"I see you're here. Let's start without delay." Patchouli said walking over to him

"Right, I can't wait to fly on my own, let's do this Patchouli!"

What followed was hours of John trying his best to fly, since he was human, he had to go through some spell books, a simple spell (at least simple for Patchy) would grant him wings, and the ability to fly for as long as his mana would hold out. John, having returned to Scholar during all this spent hours casting the spell, he'd messed up quite a few times, as he couldn't maintain flight for more than a few moments at the least, or about a minute at best.

"One more time, I think you'll have it this time." Patchouli said sternly

"R-right." John muttered, feeling tired from all the spell-casting "Flight!" He exclaimed as a pair of white feathery wings appeared on his back. He gave them a few test flaps, before trying once again to lift of.

"Remember, just keep your focus, and don't worry about falling or anything like that." Patchouli instructed

John nodded, lifting off again, this time doing some laps around one of the bookcases, things seemed okay! He wasn't falling at all, and the spell itself didn't seem to be giving out, finally he'd done it!

"Hey Patchouli, I did it! I'm flying, I'm really flying, this great-ugh!"

In his excitement, John hadn't paid attention where he was going and flew straight into a bookshelf. Patchouli couldn't help but laugh silently as she walked over to John to help him up. "Well, you still need to work on staying aware of your surroundings, but otherwise, not bad, I didn't expect you to actually progress so well in one day."

"Thanks." John said taking her hand and getting to his feet. "With that done, all we've got to do is wait for a few days until we put the plan in action."

"Quite...now then, about that bracelet you're wearing...do you mind if I...?"

"No."

Patchouli could only let out small sigh of annoyance. There was something about that thing...or rather the stones inside it. She could feel something was odd about them, but she didn't know what it was exactly. She'd have to push her curiosity to the side for now, what mattered most was preparing to get her books back.

* * *

 **You know this chapter felt pretty long as I wrote it. I always feel like I'm writing too little whenever I get a chapter going, but I always thought anywhere from 4-5k would be big enough to constitute a good length for a chapter. If anyone has any input on that, please do let me know.**


	4. Chapter 4: A Medicine for Revenge

**Finally, Chapter 4 is here! With Final Fantasy XIV's newest expansion having released, I got a bit...sidetracked to say the least. That being said though, things will be quite interesting when that comes up in the story...**

* * *

John had awoken in his room in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, today was the day that he would get Patchy's books back...and hopefully be allowed to leave the SDM for a while. He didn't bother eating breakfast, since he was so on edge. His days at the mansion had been pretty nice all things considered, sure he wasn't allowed to actually leave, but he was allowed to explore it (Though he was forbidden from the basement for whatever reason) and he'd found that residents of the SDM were actually pretty nice to have around, from reading books with Patchy to some idle talks with Sakuya or Meiling, or even helping out Koakuma with the library from time to time, the days just flew by. Still he knew he had to help get those books back for Patchouli and so he grabbed his bag and went down to the mansion, waiting for Patchouli so that they could depart. It was about a half-hour before the purple clad mage had finally shown up.

"There you are, I didn't expect you to be so eager to get going." Patchouli said in a somewhat surprised voice

"Well of course, I mean, Marisa played me after all, I think some comeuppance is justified. But uh, how are we going to carry all the books out?" John asked

"You'll carry them out of course." Patchouli replied in a matter-of-fact tone

John's eyes went wide at that revelation "Ho-how?! I can't fit so many books in just my bag, it's way too small!"

"I see...then, hand me your bag for just a moment."

Doing as told, John handed it over, curious as to what kind of magic Patchouli was going to use on it. She merely tapped it with her finger, some runes appearing on the bag before fading away and handing it back to John as if nothing had happened.

Well, that wasn't as exciting as he'd expected.

"So...what did you do to it?" John asked, poking and prodding at his bag a bit

"I've enchanted it, so that now your bag is essentially limitless in space. All you have to do is put something inside, regardless of the size and you can pull it out later, simply think of the item you want to get and if it's in there, you'll grab it."

"Ooooh, so like the bag of holding from Dungeons and Dragons!"

Patchouli gave him a strange look "Dungeons and...what?"

"I'll tell you another time, but before we go, do you know where Sakuya is?"

"You called?"

John let out a less than manly sounding shriek as he spun around to see Sakuya standing behind him. He'd been here an entire week and he still couldn't get used to her popping up out of nowhere. Sakuya herself wore an amused grin.

"My, I didn't know a man could make a sound quite like that."

"S-shut up, I need your help for this plan as well." John said with a blush

"My help...? In what way?"

"I'm sure Marisa is probably going to assume I had a hand in this, so that's why if you see her, whether it be here or in the village and she tries pumping you for information, I want you to tell her that for the past week, I was sentenced to hard labor in the mansion."

"That's all...? I can do that easily enough...but Lady Patchouli, are you sure you wish to go along with John on this excursion? I could very easily go in your stead."

"Don't worry; I'll be fine, even with my condition." Patchouli stated taking out a small bottle that was filled with a pure white liquid. "All I have to do is drink this potion...and for a time, it'll completely stop whatever ails me. I'll be in top form for this encounter."

"My, you're taking this quite serious aren't you?" Sakuya chuckled

"Of course, it's about time that Marisa learned a good lesson or two. And this also serves as a valuable field experiment for this potion; I've never had a good chance to test it."

"Then let's get going, we're burning daylight." John said, changing over to his Scholar Job, over the days he'd tried using it with other jobs, but unfortunately, it seemed like it was only working with this particular one, he'd have to figure out exactly why it was like that later and focus on the matter at hand. Giving Sakuya a good bye, the two set off towards Marisa's home, The two exited the mansion and flew into the sky as Sakuya waved them off John being surprised at how Gensokyo looked from up high like this. It was pretty beautiful, just like with Marisa before, he could see several places from far off, there was another flower field a bit north from where the village should be and he saw a few other places he'd seen with Marisa as well. He was following behind Patchouli since he wasn't sure where she lived exactly, all he knew was that she lived in a magic forest that was easy for any normal person to get lost in, but he couldn't help but wonder what that would look like as well.

"Stick close John!" Patchouli called back to him "Follow the exact path I do once we get to the woods or you'll end up lost!"

John called back in affirmation and soon enough, once they were in the woods, they were forced to fly a bit lower than he'd have liked, but the trees and such were absolutely massive to the point they were blocking out the sky, so John and Patchouli didn't really have a choice in the matter. At some point, Patchouli landed on the ground and motioned for John to stop.

"This is it." Patchouli said solemnly

John looked over shoulder (pretty easy to do when he was a whole foot taller than her) to see Marisa's abode in the small clearing of the forest. It was...something to say the least. It was basically a small shack, definitely a one floor home by the size and despite how small it was it was leagues better than the rundown shack John and Kogasa shared.

"Alright...so just to review, I want you to create a distraction, if Marisa is there, keep her occupied while I sneak in and grab the books."

Patchouli nodded, as John switched over to the ninja job. Decked out in purple light armor, with two daggers at his waist, he was now the poster boy for what one would expect a ninja to look like(Much more than a certain ninja in a bright orange jumpsuit he thought). Patchouli of course was surprised yet again.

"Another form...and a ninja by the looks of it, you are certainly full of surprises."

John merely nodded in affirmation. "When the fighting gets well underway I'll move in, once I'm out I shall make a bird call, once you hear three caws that will be your signal to withdraw."

"Right...and knowing Marisa, she'll believe she's driven me off. That should give us enough time to withdraw."

"Correct, however, once we do, I must take the books with me to my place of work."

"Why...?" Patchouli asked confused

"Marisa will notice and surely follow you, but she will be unaware of me. Once you get back to the mansion, send Sakuya to retrieve the books."

Patchouli rubbed her chin for a minute before agreeing "Very well, better to have our bases covered. Now then, let's get this started." She murmured gulping down her potion after and flying towards the front of Marisa's home. She took a deep breath, mustering all of the pent up anger she had so that she could make this come across as threatening as possible.

"MARISA KIRASAME, YOU'VE STOLEN MY BOOKS FOR THE LAST TIME! COME OUT AND FACE RETRIBUTION FOR ALL THAT YOU'VE DONE!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs

John sat hunched behind some bushes watching, since for a few moments, there was no response whatsoever, until a bleary eyed Marisa came out of the house, squinting at the morning sun as she looked at Patchouli.

"What the...Patchy? Why are you here so early in the morning?" Marisa asked

"I've come for my books you thief!" Patchouli spat back

"Hey now, I didn't steal them, I'm just borrowing them! You'll get em back when I die!" Marisa said with a grin

"Sadly that day won't be coming any time soon I'm sure."

"Ouch...that's cold ze, but if it's a fight you want..." She muttered broomstick flying towards her hand "Then I'll be happy to give you one!"

With that Marisa hovered into the air, prepared to take on her sometimes friend, sometimes enemy. Patchouli wasted no time in activating her first spell card, seeking to get Marisa on the defensive sooner rather than later.

"Earth Sign, Rage Trilithon High Level!" She shouted as numerous yellow danmaku began splaying all over the area, Marisa, dodging them and firing back with her own danmaku until Patchy's attack faded

"Man, you're all fired up today ain'tcha Patchy? You're gonna have to do better than that though! Now it's my turn, so get ready! Love Storm, Starlight Typhoon!"

Numerous magic circles surrounded Patchouli as danmaku began to fire out of them, the entire time Marisa herself shooting off some stray shots, in the hopes that Patchouli would slip up and take a hit, but thanks to the potion she'd imbibed earlier, Patchouli was at the top of her game which didn't go unnoticed by Marisa.

"You're doing a lot better than usual today Patchy; I gotta say I'm impressed." Marisa chuckled

"You won't be laughing once I get my books back, now then, Water and Wood Sign, Water Elf!"

This time, large yellow orbs shot from Patchouli's card, they were slow, but this served as a distraction for the smaller faster blue orbs that came out after, Marisa had to duck and dodge, taking a few stray hits as she maneuvered around.

"I'll end this quick ze! Loving Heart, Double Spark!"

Two large lasers then shot out from Marisa's Hakkero as numerous star shaped danmaku flew out as well. The battle field was quickly becoming hectic and though John found all the danmaku flying around to be a truly beautiful sight, he had a job to do. Marisa was adequately distracted now and so now all he had to do was infiltrate her home, which given the size of it, wouldn't be difficult. One of the windows around the back had actually been open, so that was a simple of point of entry for John. He quietly snuck inside, and looking around at Marisa's home, only one thing came to mind:

"Man this place is a dump..." John muttered, as he looked at all the random things strewn around the house. It was messy and cramped, with all sorts of things all over the place. Potion bottles, small trinkets, books, and some pottery littered the room making it difficult to walk around. How the hell Marisa lived in all this was anyone's guess. Still, time was off the essence, and so John got to work on grabbing any books he could get his hand on, stuffing them into his bag. The explosions and booms that rang outside serving as a reminder that he had to be quick with his work before Marisa came back. It took him at least a half hour before he'd gotten a large assortment of the books rounded up. There were some left, but the fighting was dying down as fewer explosions and yells were heard, so he chose this time to exit, better to cut his losses and escape with what he could. Upon, exiting out the window and sneaking back into the bushes, he was able to get a glance at Patchouli, she was tired, her clothes ragged and torn, she was panting heavily and the same could be said for Marisa, though her clothing wasn't nearly as torn up, looks like she'd been the victor of this duel.

John didn't want to waste any more time and so he quickly made three quick caw noises to which Patchouli had thankfully heard.

" _The signal..."_ she thought to herself, inwardly smirking to herself she turned to Marisa, keeping up the angry act. "Tch...You win this time Marisa...but I'll be back, just you wait!"

"Sure thing Patchy, I'll be sure to have some tea out and waiting for you." Marisa joked, a cocky grin on her face

Patchoui turned and left, flying away, which was John's cue to as the saying, goes to 'get the fuck out'. He switched back to Scholar, and using the Flight spell, the magical wings once again formed on his back, allowing him to take flight. He kept low so Marisa wouldn't see him, making sure to keep Patchy in sight as the trees began to grow thick again. Just when he'd thought he'd lost her, Patchouli flew up beside him.

"How many books did you get?" Patchouli asked

"A lot of them, I had to leave some behind once your fight ended though, I didn't want to risk anything."

"Fair enough, I'll guide you out, after that, get going back to the village as fast as you can."

John nodded and the two continued on their way until they'd finally reached the forest's edge and split off from one another. Having thought they heard a faint scream in the distance

Marisa, had watched Patchouli fly off. She had to admit that it was weird to see the purple mage outside of the Scarlet Devil Mansion as she rarely left the place at all. Still, it was nice for her to get some morning exercise in and Patchouli being in top form for the day was an excellent morning workout and it served for some good danmaku practice, especially since Patchouli had almost defeated her too. She made sure Patchouli was truly gone, watching her fly off before returning to her home.

"Man, all that fighting made me hungry, think I'll fix myself some food and then take a nap." As she walked into the small kitchen area she stopped and looked at the living room. The area was a lot barer than she remembered. Where were the books she borrowed? She had them perfectly stacked up and everything!

"What the...where are they?!" She exclaimed looking all over the house, tossing things to the side "They were right here I know it!" Marisa began to panic as she searched "Did Patchouli take them...? No...no she couldn't have I was fighting her, and Sakuya never really cared that much that Marisa borrowed the books, and the times she did come to reclaim them, she'd put up a half-hearted fight and return home saying that Marisa was too tough (though Marisa personally thought that Sakuya did that as a means to get back at Patchy due to the latter being rather snarky). So who on earth could she have gotten to help? Alice wouldn't bother, she was always busy doing her own thing, Reimu would have just beat Marisa into submission, no one else would help Patchouli, not even John unless Patchouli offered him something.

And that's when it hit her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The sound reverberated throughout the magic forest as Marisa realized that she'd been played for a fool. She had to go after Patchouli; there was a good chance that John was still with her!

Back at Favor Trade, John was at his chair, smugly recounting his tale to Kogasa, the umbrella girl giggling as she imagined the look on Marisa's face.

"So, what's the plan now?" Kogasa asked once John had finished telling the tale

"Now we wait for Sakuya. Once she shows up, I'll pass the books on to her, I'm sure it goes without saying, but if Marisa stops by, you don't know anything got it?"

"You got it, though even if we did tell her, I doubt she'd start a fight here in the village."

"You're right, but I don't need her hounding me in case I ever leave the village, she could do the same to you as well." John grimaced

"Ugh...yeah that'd be bad, the last thing I want is that witch stalking me." Kogasa said with a shudder

It was then that the door was opened politely as Sakuya stepped inside.

"There you are John; I have been told of the situation by Lady Patchouli. Put the books in this pouch, it's enchanted like your bag."

John and Kogasa got to work, tossing all of the books from John's bag into Sakuya's pouch. Once that was finished the maid gave a small bow.

"Thank you, Lady Patchouli, and by extension my mistress are most grateful to you. Also John, Patchouli asked that I formally extend an invitation to you to join her at the mansion whenever you deem fit. As of now consider yourself an honored guest of the Scarlet Devil Mansion whenever you choose to visit. I will inform Meiling as well so you shouldn't have any problems whenever you arrive."

"Really...?" John said dumbfounded "Well uh...shucks I'm a bit embarrassed, give Patchouli my thanks, I'll be sure to make some time to stop by."

With another graceful bow, Sakuya left just as quickly as she came.

"Well, things seem to be turning out just fine now. " John said with a smile, he felt like playing some XIV after all that happened and so he sat down, ready to spend several hours playing video games."

"Oh yeah!" Kogasa exclaimed pounding her fist into her palm lightly "I forgot to tell you, but that doctor from Eientei came back with your little uh...what did you call it again... a 'cell phone?'" Kogasa said going over to her bed to fish it out from under the pillow

"Ah thanks Kogasa, by the way, how was work while I was gone? I hope you didn't get too many requests."

"Only a few, thankfully it was nothing too difficult, but I got us some extra food and one of the woodworkers was willing to give the office a small overhaul, repair some of the more weaker parts of the office." Kogasa said with a sigh "I wasn't able to surprise anyone this time though."

"Well that's great...and I'm sure you'll surprise someone next time."

"Heh...yeah, oh and I forgot, but princess Kaguya said she wanted to see you again according to that doctor."

"That so...? I wonder what about, well if I see Reisen again, I guess I'll have her show me the way there." John said as he booted up the game, unfortunately, just as he was about to log in to the game, the door swung open again.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Marisa's shouted

With a glare, John looked over at Marisa, the fury on her face "Oh it's _you_. What do _you_ want?" John said angrily though he had to do his best from breaking out into a smirk

"I want them back!" Marisa growled at him

"Want what back?" John retorted innocently "Nothing here but the stuff that's always been here, right Kogasa?"

Kogasa nodded but Marisa continued glaring "Don't screw with me, I know you took those books, now where are they? Nobody else would care if I took a few books from Patchouli, so who else would help her? What did she give you?"

"Nothing at all, I was stuck at the mansion for the last week doing hard labor since _you_ decided to steal _their_ books."

"Hey you agreed to help me! It's not my fault if you got caught, when you should have ran away!"

"Oh I'm sorry; I didn't know I was supposed to fly! Oh wait, that's right, I _can't_!" John hollered back at her "Now get out of here, I just got home and I'd like to enjoy some time alone."

"Not until I get my books back ze!"

"And I told you, they're not here. Look around if you want, but you won't find them. This place isn't big, so there's no place I could hide them."

Taking a cursory glance around, Marisa could see that John was in fact telling the truth here, there was no way he could horde all those books here and not have them take up a bunch of space. As much as it pained her to say it, she had little choice but to take his word and leave, she'd have to try getting into the SDM again, but there was no way John was going to help her now.

"Tch, fine, but you better hope I don't find out it was you who took my books, or you're in trouble!"

"Yeah yeah, now get going already." John muttered as she walked out, as soon as Marisa was gone he couldn't help but shoot Kogasa a sly grin

"She's pretty pissed, serves her right." The Karakasa chuckled

"Yeah, but for now, let's take it easy, I really do want to relax, that mansion was nice and all, but nothing is the same as relaxing in your own home."

Kogasa hung up the 'closed' sign outside of the office, with John booting up his laptop and hopping into the game. Kogasa leaned over his shoulder, staring at it intently, intrigued by all that was happening on screen.

"So John...what exactly is that? That guy on the screen is wearing that same armor as you do and the same weapons too."

For a second, John contemplated feeding her some sort of lie, but Kogasa had been pretty friendly towards him and she had helped him open up his place of business as well as keeping it up and running while he was being detained...with thinking of all of that, there wasn't any reason for him to lie to Kogasa exactly. He was however tired, and really wasn't in the mood for explanations.

"I'll explain tomorrow Kogasa, is that okay?"

She raised an eyebrow and sighed "Well okay, I guess that's fine, but you better not forget alright?"

"I won't I promise."

With that, the day went by and after taking a bath, (Thank goodness for Black Mage and it having a use of both ice and fire magic so he could warm things up easily) he went straight to bed. Morning broke and as usual, John was in front of his computer, mindlessly going through some videos on Youtube after he'd checked his bank accounts and such, which surprisingly for him, he was still getting pay, and he hadn't been to work in a while now...he'd have to rectify that, but he had no idea on how to get home, for now though, he wasn't going to complain about his luck. Things remained pretty quiet for the morning, no requests were coming in, and John decided to go visit the princess later in the day.

"Hey John, are you here?" came the familiar voice of Reisen as she opened the door, glancing at him as she took a quick look around, she let out a snort at Kogasa (who was still asleep on her bed). "Boy, I thought the shoddy look on the outside was just for show, but this really is a dump, you couldn't find a better place to do your business?"

John let out a low growl "Yeah yeah, I get it, this place sucks, what brings you here Reisen?"

"The Princess wants to see you without delay, so let's get going, I've got deliveries to make."

" _Well...guess I'm going to visit sooner than anticipated."_ John thought "Alright, just let me leave a note for Kogasa."

Taking out a some paper and a pen that he'd taken from Patchouli's library (he's sure she wouldn't really miss it) and jotted down a note telling her to watch the office while he was out visiting Kaguya. As he was finishing up, a sudden realization came upon John: He wrote the entire message in perfect Japanese. Wait...how did he know it was _perfect_ Japanese? Everyone around him had been speaking English...right? Only one way to find out...

"Hey Reisen, can I ask you something?"

"What's that?" Reisen asked as the two exited the office

"What am I speaking to you...?"

"Speaking...you mean language? You're speaking Japanese of course, what else would you speak here?"

"H-heh, yeah you're right I was just kidding, let's get going."

As the two made their way through the village and into the bamboo forest John's mind was traveling a mile a minute. How on earth had he learned Japanese, why did everyone (he had to assume that from what Reisen said) hear him speaking Japanese when he heard English loud and clear? There were too many questions going through his mind and he was so engrossed in his thoughts, he didn't realize that he and Reisen had already arrived, the rabbit girl leading him to Kaguya's room where she sat, flanked by Erin on her right.

"Ah Mr. Graham, it's nice to see that you are in good health. I was beginning to wonder what had become of you when you weren't seen around the village for the last week." Kaguya said in the same regal sounding voice as before.

"Oh uh, don't worry about that, I was away on work, had to handle something important for the Scarlet Devil Mansion." John replied casually

"The vampire...?" Erin asked with a raised eyebrow. What could she want with you...?"

"Well not Remilia actually, but Patchouli, just a bit of lost and found I had to help with."

"Lost and found...I see..." Erin murmured

"Anyway, I will cut straight to the point Mr. Graham" Kaguya interjected, expertly regaining control of the conversation. "I wish to join you in your little Favor Trade endeavors."

At this John's eyebrows raised in surprise "Really...?" Was all he could manage to muster in response, having been caught off guard by the sudden request.

"It is true; I however, am opposed to this and as such, to determine if you're up to the task of keeping the Princess safe, I've come up with a request, if you complete it then I'll allow the princess to accompany you without question. If you fail...well, you'll probably be dead, but that's the worst case scenario." Erin spoke up, a small smile on her face the entire time

Needless to say, John was pretty spooked at what she could have planned, that smile was _not_ endearing at all, but even if he was scared, so long as he had his job crystals, he should be just fine...he hoped so at least.

"Okay...so what do I have to do?" John asked grimly

"It's simple really" Erin began holding up a finger "There is a nameless hill not too far from here, up on that hill are numerous poison lily flowers, and I would love to if you could go and grab some for me. Bring me a few dozen and I'll be grateful. That's all."

"What's the catch?" John retorted almost instantly

Erin let out a chuckle at how quickly he asked "Smart boy, there is indeed a 'catch'. Up on that hill lives a Youkai who absolutely loathes humans, she'll attack you without hesitation and she can control poisons. So if you see her, it would be wise to run away."

John sat and thought for a minute, he had many Jobs at his disposal, and this youkai up on the hill could control poisons...he decided to look at this from a raid standpoint. While it was true that in the actual game, there were no elemental weaknesses (something John didn't like about the game) this particular youkai was able to control poisons of all kinds, to that end, Scholar and Summoner were out, since a bulk of their damage came from using poisons...if he _did_ get poisoned, he'd need a cure and quick.

"You're welcome to decline the offer if you think it's too much~" Erin teased winking at him

"No...no that won't be a problem, If she poisons me, I'll just esuna it off, shouldn't be too difficult. I accept your request Ms. Yagokoro; I'll be back by nightfall to deliver your flowers."

"I look forward to seeing you return." Kaguya said with a giggle

After heading back to the village, John gathered up his things, Kogasa who was now awake, questioned him as to where he was going so suddenly.

"Gotta go up to some hill with a bunch of poison flowers, I should be okay." John murmured as he packed some of the medicines that he'd received from Erin, no doubt it'd come in handy on his trip.

"Wait...a hill with a bunch of poisonous flowers?! Whoa, do _not_ go there John, you'll die, the girl that lives there hates humans!"

"I know...but if I don't then that means that Erin will have won...and I know it may sound stupid but...well..."

"What?" Kogasa inquired

"I really _hate_ losing." John said with a wry smile

"You're really being stubborn about this?! She isn't like Marisa; she'll actually try to kill you if she finds you!"

"I've got it under control Kogasa, don't you worry."

"Then at _least_ let me come with you!" Kogasa pleaded

"Like you said, whoever this girl is up on that hill is willing to kill me and she uses poison to do it, I don't have enough medicine to go around, and I don't want to risk you getting sick. If you're with me, she'd definitely attack you and if you got hurt, I couldn't live with that."

"O-oh...um...okay then, thanks John." Kogasa murmured with a slight blush, she wasn't expecting _that_ kind of response out of him, and she couldn't deny that her heart had skipped a beat when he said it.

"I'll hopefully be back before nightfall. Feel free to close up shop for the day if you want." John said walking out the door.

"Time to hopefully not die..." He muttered switching to Scholar and casting flight. Soaring up high above the village, John was able to see the hill he had to head to, it was quite a few miles away and was easily notable by all the purple and white he could see from even this high up. He surmised it wouldn't take him too long to get there, and he had his bag which was enchanted thanks to Patchouli, so grabbing the flowers shouldn't be too difficult of a task...John just mentally prayed he didn't have to deal with this youkai who was said to live there.

With that, he flew towards the Hill, doing his best to get there as fast as he could. It took him about 2 hours of nonstop flying before he reached his destination, touching down right where the normal colored foliage ended and the purple-white of the hill began. The air was stifling to say the least, and he felt some nauseous just being around the flowers...it was still bright out, so maybe he didn't have to worry about running into the youkai?

' _I better hurry up and get this over with, a few dozen or so flowers, just like she asked.'_ John thought as he began kneeling down to carefully plucking the flowers, depositing them in his bag before moving on. He made sure to do his best to not touch the leaves since these things were poisonous and he had no idea merely touching the leaves would poison him.

After an hour of picking, John stood up straight and _stretched "Man, beading over like that repeatedly is rather painful."_ He thought wincing at the pain in his lower back "At least I've got all the flowers, I should probably leave before she shows up."

"Before who shows up mister~?" Came a sweet sounding voice from behind him

John turned around in shock to see a young girl standing before him; she was a whole foot shorter than him wearing a red-purple shirt, a red skirt with some red-purple seams, silver-blue eyes and a cute bow on the back of her curly blonde hair. What was most important about her face though was the sinister smile she had on her face.

"Tell me mister, were you left here to die too?" she asked, eerily sweet all the same

"D-die...? Er...no, I just came to pick some flowers and-"

"Oh that's a shame; I may have been more merciful to you if you were abandoned!"

"Merciful...? Just who _are_ you?"

"My name is Medicine Melancholy, a poor doll who was abandoned on this hill by your kind, because you humans see us dolls as nothing more than a disposable item to toss aside when you no longer see us as entertaining or useful to you!"

"Uh...look I think we can talk about this and-"

"NO! NO MORE TALKING, I'LL MAKE YOUR INSIDES ROT HUMAN! NOW CHOKE UPON MY POISONS, WRITE IN AGONY!" Medicine bellowed as she began to float into the air.

' _Well...so much for trying to take the diplomatic route.'_ "White Mage!" John exclaimed as a bright light engulfed him, he was no clad in a white robe with red accents on the tip, a staff hugging his back, before he withdrew it

"I'd rather not fight, but if this is how it's gotta be..."

"Hmph, a nice trick, but this place will be your grave human!"

Not giving him the chance, Medicine called forth a small cloud of poison and flung it towards John who dodged easily before activating cleric stance which would increase his attack power and focusing on her and casting Aero III, a small cyclone of air appearing and knocking the doll back a bit.

"M-magic?! You're not just for show then are you?" Medicine said wincing as she felt the sting of the attack even though it'd finished already.

"I don't like to lose." He said calmly, Focusing once more he this time cast another wind spell at her, this one being Aero II, weaker than before, but when combined with the strength of the previous spell, it could dish out some good damage over time.

"A-again?! Wh-why you!" Medicine wasn't about to let some human outdo her, and summoning several more clouds, she positioned them all around John, who tried to leap out of the way, but was unsuccessful as he got a face full of poison.

"Ugh...god, that's horrible." John said wincing as his nausea increased severely. He struggled to get to his feet, the poison acting fast

"How do you like that human? That poison will eat you from the inside out!"

' _I hope this works.'_ John thought as he quickly cast esuna, which thankfully did its job and cleared up his sickness instantly

"Whew...that was close." He murmured

"What in the...how did you recover from that?! It shouldn't be possible!"

"Anything's possible when you're a level 60 White Mage Medicine, White Mages specialize in healing, a few little poisons aren't anything to worry about!"

"Is that so...?" Medicine said with a sneer "Very well, in that case, I won't hold back any longer." As she finished saying that, a massive cloud of purple appeared above the girl's head, which she was currently pointing directly at John.

"Oh...oh crap this won't end well." He muttered as the cloud was sent flying towards him.

Run...he had to run! Doing the best he could, John tried to outrun the blast, only to be knocked forward when it exploded. While he wasn't seriously hurt, he had breathed in some of the poison and he could feel his body locking up a little bit.

"Oh what the hell...paralysis...okay John...you can handle this..." He cast esuna again, but this time it didn't cure his affliction. "Oh great...it's a permanent...gonna have to wait for it to wear off."

"Teehee, what's the matter human, feeling a bit stiff?"

Well...at least it wasn't a bad pun.

"Now stand there and accept your death graciously!"

Not giving her the chance to do anything again, John began casting again, this time Stone III, which mage large spiked stones materialize and slam into Medicine.

A loud wham sound was all that could be heard as Medicine went flying backwards from the attack.

"Gwah! " Medicine cried as the pain ran throughout her body, she managed to stop herself in the air before floating back towards John, hovering a few feet above him, her clothing a bit tattered now from his attacks. "You...I don't know what you are, but you're more irritating than that Hakurei girl...I think I know the perfect way to end this~".

Medicine's body began to glow a faint purple as she began sucking in all the poison around her, until her body was glowing a misty purple, she touched down to the ground, slowly walking towards John whose body had locked up even more now, and he was sure he couldn't move his legs at all now. Medicine inched closer to him, hands outstretched.

"Come now mister, I'll give you a hug and fill your body with the most perfect poison~!"

There was nothing he could do right now, he could try casting another spell, but Medicine would no doubt lunge at him If he did. She got closer...and closer...and closer still, she was mere inches away from him!

And then...

-To Be Continued

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 **Yes, that IS meant to be the little bit from Roundabout playing in the end there. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I hope you're looking forward to the next one! As for this chapter in particular, I thought using Medicine would be a good idea, I'm pretty sure she's one of the more forgotten characters in the Touhou world. Don't forget to leave any comments if you have them!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Party Grows Bigger

**Whoo, okay, I'm here, I'm here! I'm sorry about that delay, but I was spending my summer with loved ones, and as such I decided to put off writing anything, dedicate that time to them you know? Anyway, I won't keep you here any longer(I know at least one person messaged me hoping to know when this chapter would arrive). So with that, enjoy.**

* * *

John could see Medicine inching closer to him, her arms outstretched as if to give him a hug, the stench of poisons oozing off of her, he tried to struggle and while he could feel the paralyzing poison wearing off it still wasn't enough for him to get away in time.

"Now then mister, let me hug the life out of you~!" Medicine cooed

John let out a pained grunt as she drew near him, closing his eyes as she was about to lay her hands on him.

 _ **THWAM!**_

John opened his eyes to see Medicine sailing away across the flower field, he turned to the newcomer who had for all intents and purposes saved his ass. What he saw was the usual goofy looking purple umbrella with the comically long tongue, and the blue haired heterochromatic eyed girl he'd been basically living with for a while now holding said umbrella like one would a baseball bat.

"K-Kogasa…? What are you doing here?" John asked dumbfounded at the sudden appearance of his friend

"I'm here because I was worried...and it looks like I was just in time too, are you alright? Can you move?"

"Y-yeah…that poison is wearing off now." John grunted getting to his feet properly "Guess this is what I get for coming out here all alone."

"Yeah it is, we're partners John, and you shouldn't go running off into dangerous places like this on your own."

"Okay okay...no need to treat me like a child." John said with a wave of his hand

"You...just who do you think you are?!" came the voice of Medicine, she'd gotten back to her feet from the attack, a scowl on her face "What gives you the right to come out of nowhere and smack me in the face with that umbrella?! It really hurts you know!"

"Er...sorry? Look, I'd really rather not fight, so if you just let us go we'll be on our way and-"

"Let you go...LET YOU GO?!" Medicine shouted at the top of her lungs "No way am I letting you go Kogasa, I thought you were a friend, someone who understood what it was like to be thrown away by those callous humans, and yet here you are consorting with them!"

"You aren't wrong Medicine, I _hate_ the people who threw me away, I don't know who they are, or if they're even alive, but the difference here is I don't hate everyone at the village because of what some other people did."

"You were thrown away…?" John asked confused

"Yes John...I used to just be a normal umbrella, but well my owners didn't want me for some reason and so they threw me away. I became a youkai after who knows how many years and here I am."

"That's pretty crappy..."

"Tell me about it."

"Huh, in that case, you're mine now." John said bluntly

"W-what do you mean yours?!" Kogasa exclaimed with a blush

"You're my umbrella now, and I'll make sure to not throw you away no matter what...so keep me dry during the rain or whatever okay?"

"Oh...um...sure John."

"Oh my how swell for you Kogasa, this is fine, you both can die together now!" Medicine roared firing off poison clouds towards the two of them, the clouds were several times bigger this time, but luckily for John the little bit of exposition they'd had was perfect for him shaking off the last of the poison. He and Kogasa jumped away from the clouds, Kogasa taking to the sky, and raining down some danmaku while John began casting Stone III once again. While Medicine had been distracted by Kogasa's danmaku, she failed to notice the rocks jutting out of the ground to and smashing into her, knocking her back some.

"Crap...forgot he could do that." Medicine mumbled as she reoriented herself "Fine then, I'll start using spell cards, but you two better watch out, I'm aim to kill! Fog Sign, Gassing Garden!" Medicine began firing off dozens upon dozens of danmaku, with John and Kogasa doing their best to dodge the onslaught, it wasn't until John narrowly avoid another cloud of poison that he realized what was going on.

"Kogasa be careful! The bullets are just a distraction, look out for the clouds!"

Kogasa didn't have any time to voice confirmation as she was doing her best to dodge everything. At the very least, she was that John was on the ground, as this gave her all the room she needed in the air to dodge properly.

"Dammit, I can't get a cast off like this." John growled, the bullets and clouds were coming too fast for him to just cast normally...he needed something big, something that would disrupt the attack and luckily, since John was fighting as a white mage right now, he had the perfect attack for such a thing. Dodging as best as he could, John made his way towards Medicine giving his staff a small twirl as he did

"Swiftcast set." He murmured, he was just under Medicine now, the perfect spot for where he needed to be. "Hey Medicine, get a taste of this! HOLY!" He exclaimed as a small white orb raised into the sky towards the doll. She looked at it confused for a moment, before an explosion of light magic engulfed her being. Medicine began falling to the ground, as Holy had the secondary effect of briefly stunning the enemy (perfect for when one was dealing with multiple enemies and wanted them to just stop moving for a few seconds) a sickening thud reverberated throughout the hillside, and it was a few moments before Medicine got back to her feet.

"H-holy magic?! You know holy magic too?!"

"Uh...yeah, that a big deal?" John asked with a shrug

"Uh...John...she's a youkai...you know a demon? Holy magic is extremely deadly to youkai." Kogasa said hovering next to him

"Oh yeah...I guess that'd make sense, I'm so used to operating without the usual elemental weaknesses I guess I just forgot."

"Just promise me you won't hit me with that spell? It looked extremely painful..."

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Poison Sign, Melancholy Poison!" Medicine hollered, hoping to catch the two of guard, this time the bullets coming out in a more pointed formation, while Medicine waved her hands to the side throwing out large orbs at the two of them.

"Dammit, won't the two of you just stay still and die already?!"

The two didn't bother making any quips, instead just getting back to dodging and flying out of the way of her shots.

"Kogasa, we need to end this! Can you do any of those spell card things like her?" John yelled at her

"Of course I can, why?! She replied getting grazed by a shot

"Do it now! Anything will do, just enough for me to get in close!"

"Fine! I'm sorry about this Medicine, but this will hurt! Folding Laser Umbrella!"

Kogasa folded her umbrella, aiming at it at Medicine before firing off a singular laser that quickly separated into several different lasers, covering the skies in danmaku, Medicine growled as she dodged her attacks, before finding a brief reprieve

"P-poison sign, Poison Breath!" she huffed out, she was getting tired now, the two wearing her down without fail, especially since she'd been hit by that Holy attack. Medicine's spell card had several different colors spiraling around her, poison clouds following after them, the shots from her spell card and Kogasa's clashing with each other as the bullets connected with each other causing explosions in the air. It was comparable to a fireworks show, but as this was all going on, John had taken his position below Medicine, dodging stray danmaku shots along the way as he positioned himself just right. Thankfully the puppet girl hadn't noticed him snaking his way towards her, Kogasa's danmaku proving to be a good distraction for him. He spread his arms out mimicking the motion used to cast Holy in the game, the cast time was a bit long, but once he'd finished casting the small white orb floated up...right in front of Medicine's face. She looked at it for a moment as if time had stopped, blinking several times before uttering one phrase.

"Oh shi-"

 _BOOM_

The second attack hit her even harder than before knocking her back some as she went spiraling downward. She hit the ground with a loud crash, leaving John and Kogasa sitting still as they waited for her to possibly rise again. Silence hung over them for several minutes before John let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay...I think she's done for…" John breathed out, he was panting now, the adrenaline from the fight slowly leaving his body. "Let's get the hell out of here, the flowers should still be okay."

"Wait John...can we take her with us?"

John's mouth hung wide open at Kogasa's words...was she insane? Take her _with_ them? After she tried so hard to kill them, more specifically _him_?

"You're joking right? Kogasa, she just nearly murdered us!"

"Look, I know...I know it looks bad, but she only ended up this way because she was abandoned, she hasn't even been _around_ humans, I've talked to her before a few times and she's never been to the village...well except for one time she tried to poison them all, but that was a really long time ago."

"I don't think the village would be willing to allow us to bring in an evil doll girl who tried to poison them all."

At this Kogasa smirked "Well, it's a good thing we have a youkai tamer on our hands!" she exclaimed clapping him on the shoulder "Look, we'll tie her up once we get home, I got some rope from one of the villagers a few days ago for showing up to tidy his home."

"I'm not so sure about this Kogasa..."

"Come on please...for me~?" She cooed, giving him the most adorable pout she could muster

John's one weakness: Cute girls who pout

"Fine...I guess so, but if she flips out, then we're dumping her back here."

Kogasa let out a squeal of delight, at the news, while John returned to his Scholar form "I'll carry her back, let's hurry up, if we hang around here any longer then it'll be night by the time we get back to the village."

Kogasa nodded and the two returned to the village, it was dusk by the time they got back and thankfully along the way, Medicine had been kind enough to remain unconscious, the village guards were curious, but Kogasa quickly explained that she was a newly tamed youkai that John had gotten to work for him and that she'd just fell asleep...and to ignore the tattered clothing on her body. Not seeing much reason to argue, the guards let them pass, and once they were back at the office John sat the unmoving doll down on the bed.

"She's not dead is she?" John asked poking her softly

"I don't think so...she probably just needs to sleep the pain off." Kogasa replied, swiping his hand away "I'll get to tying her up, we'll explain what we want from her once she wakes up."

"Right, I'm off to see the princess, show her that I got the flowers...well, first I have to find Reisen."

With that, John exited the office, looking around the village for the bunny girl that would lead him through the bamboo forest. Thankfully, the ramen shop owner had seen her just before closing up, claiming she was at the entrance to the forest and once John had arrived there she perked up upon seeing him.

"God am I glad you're here, I was worried I'd missed you or even worse, I'd be out here well into the night. I assume you got the flowers?"

"Yeah...among other things." John snorted "Let's get these to Eirin and be done with all this already."

Not wasting any time, John and Reisen flew through the forest...which raised the question of why they didn't do this the other few times they'd come through here, but that was a question for another day, after what felt like an eternity of seeing nothing but green (and barely that as the sun was completely down now) John and Reisen arrived at Kaguya's home, they stepped inside to the clinic area before Reisen sat him down.

"One moment, I'll go let them know you're here."

John nodded, sitting there with the bag full of flowers in his hands as he let out a sigh, today had been a rather harrowing experience for him. That wolf from when he first arrived in Gensokyo didn't seem like that much of a threat compared to Medicine. She'd been genuinely gunning to kill him and the gravity of that situation was only beginning to settle in now. This wasn't some game like XIV, no, if he'd slipped up even one time he'd have been dead and that would be the end of it. He'd have to be more careful now, sure he had the power of the jobs at his disposal, but that could only do so much for him.

"The princess and Eirin will see you now." Reisen said snapping John out of his stupor

"Thanks." he replied getting up from his seat, he was once again led through the halls that were much wider than they had any right to be, though he'd only been through them a few times he was starting to memorize where they were, heck, he'd been starting to remember the way to Kaguya's place itself actually. His thoughts were interrupted again when he was face to face with Kaguya once again.

"Ah John, so good to see you, though...you seem a bit exhausted, is everything alright?" Kaguya asked with a raised eyebrow

"No, I love being sent to places with homicidal dolls that want to genocide humanity, I'm doing _great_." he said a bit more forceful than he intended

"I...see, please forgive Eirin for sending you there, I assume you have the flowers?"

"Yes, take the damn thing!" He growled shoving them into her arms "That enough?"

Eirin gazed upon the flowers carefully "These are the ones...the fact that you saw that doll and managed to evade her poisons means that you really are capable...with this, I should be able to create quite a few new medicines and drugs, I'm sorry for doubting you."

"Yeah...thanks, that poison of hers sucks, I got hit by some that paralyzed me for a small bit."

"You were struck by one of her poisons and you're still okay?" Eirin asked in shock

"Yeah, there was another one she used, but I was able to cure it before it caused any real problems." John sighed

"You...cured it?"

"Yes, I know a particular spell that can heal almost any ailment, it's rare that it _can't_ heal anything really."

"That's quite the powerful bit of magic." Eirin muttered

"Right well, with this, I'll head off, I'm tired and Kogasa is waiting for me."

"Nonsense, you can't leave now!" Kaguya exclaimed "Finally I can go do something other than killing that insufferable Mokou, tonight we celebrate! Eirin, go inform the rabbits to prepare a feast for us, Reisen, can you go gather John's compatriot?"

The two women agreed to their tasks and left the room before John could even object to the notion. Kaguya was now alone with John for the moment, a fact which made the princess smile "So tell me John, exactly what kind of work do you and Kogasa do?"

"Oh...well, everything and anything I guess." John said "Sometimes I'm posted up at guard duty or we help the villagers fix something, or we look after children and the like."

"I see, I see...so you never go any extremely dangerous outings, save for this instance of course."

"Well, I wouldn't say that. This is actually the second...weirder task I've been given. I had to help Marisa break into the Scarlet Devil Mansion, do you know of it?"

"Ah yes...the vampire." She said with a small hint of disdain "I had heard that you were there for a while, I assure you we'll treat you much better here for the night."

"Oh it wasn't so bad, Remilia was actually kind of nice if not a bit haughty, but I was there since I had to steal some books back from Marisa...she had tricked me."

"I'm not surprised, I've heard some rather...unkind rumors regarding her, serves her right if she had some things taken from her for once."

"Yeah...don't tell her about that okay? As far as Marisa knows, I wasn't involved in that at all."

"Of course, your secret is safe with me, think of it as a pact between us as a new ally in the Favor Trade."

"Thanks Princess, I appreciate it." John said extending his hand towards her, Kaguya gingerly shook it, the feeling of John's hand surprising her, it was a lot more rough than she was used to and she quickly pulled away.

"Oh uh...sorry, I didn't meant to grip you to hard or anything."

"No...it is fine, I am just not used to sharing skin contact with someone of the opposite sex."

"O-oh...well uh..."

Unsure of where to take the conversation after that, the two sat in silence until Kogasa arrived to join them. The umbrella happily sat down next to John, and when asked about Medicine she said that the doll was still out of it, and likely wouldn't wake up until the next day. Kaguya was surprised to learn that the two had brought Medicine back with them, but she couldn't help but smile at the reason behind it, complimenting Kogasa on her compassion for someone who had only just moments before tried to kill them. The conversation between the three continued on for a while until the smell of food begin to waft through the air. John's stomach growled loudly, he didn't realize that he'd worked up quite the appetite from all that work, but after waiting the three moved to another room a few doors down from where they'd been talking. This particular room was quite spacious, with several tables aligned together to travel all over the room making it into one giant square. The food had already been set down on them and Kaguya motioned for Kogasa and John to have a seat. They were joined by Reisen, Eirin and another younger looking girl decked out in a pink nightgown like outfit and she didn't bother wearing any shoes at all, John couldn't recall having seen her before at all.

"So this is the guy that the princess is going to be working with?" She asked eyeing John up

"That's me, who are you?" he asked

"Name's Tewi, I've heard from Reisen that you've seen my handiwork before."

"Wait you're the one making those pitfalls all over the forest floor?!"

"Heh, pretty cool work isn't it?" Tewi replied in a cool tone

"More like irritating work if I have to be honest." John replied

"Tch...disrespectful little runt." she scoffed "You're lucky I'm in a good mood or I'd teach you a lesson!"

Somehow John severely doubted that.

The group gorged themselves on the food, there being several different kinds of fish, beef and pork available to eat. John couldn't control himself and filled up his plate with as much food as he could fit on it before going to town, several times all the other women just stared as he ate away, he wasn't slowing down at all, even after downing a few cups of sake to clean out his throat. Normally he wouldn't drink, but tonight was a party, so he decided to cut loose just this once or at least until he had a good buzz going at least. Everyone else had followed the same line of thought and eat and drank as much as they could until finally they were all stuffed and drunk.

"I...I think ish time we went hoooooome, I wanna shleeeep." Kogasa slurred standing up, the umbrella girl had drank a lot of sake, so she was completely out of it.

"Uh...yeah, come on Kogasa, let's get you home." John muttered, waving goodbye to everyone else as he carried his friend away. Through some sort of miraculous luck, John had managed to get himself and Kogasa home, even in the dead of night, he was a bit tipsy, but nowhere near as bad as Kogasa was. She had been babbling about random things for the entire way, most of it being things John couldn't even make out, but once he dropped her on her bed she was off to sleep within seconds. This left John alone for a moment as he looked around the tiny office, Medicine was still knocked out it seemed and Kogasa was snoring away happily. It was a bit touch and go there for a while, but John felt today was ultimately a success...even if he nearly died during it all. He took out his phone and glanced at it for the time...to see it read 4:25 AM.

"Man...gonna have a late day tomorrow..." he grumbled before climbing into his bed. He didn't even bother returning to his normal form, instead opting to sleep in the Scholar garb he'd been wearing since he made his way back from the hill. Soon sleep took him as easily as it took Kogasa…

The next day John awoke to some light knocking on his door. He came too, taking out his phone for a moment to check the time, it was already 1:30 PM causing him to jump to his feet. Kogasa began to stir as well and so did Medicine, who upon looking around for a few moments realized she wasn't where she normally resided.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"O-ow, please don't yell..." Kogasa groaned grabbing her head "My head is killing me..."

"Then explain to me why I'm in some shack tied up!"

"Just hang on a moment alright?" John muttered going to the door, he cracked it lightly to see who was on the other side only to see Kaguya standing in front of him.

"Is this...really where you conduct business John?" Kaguya asked

"Huh...oh...Princess...yeah this is the place...come in." John said with a yawn

"Goodness, you all just cram in here together…? This is certainly no place to live!"

"I don't even live here!" Medicine growled "And I'm still waiting for that explanation you jackass, why the hell am I here anyway?!"

"Okay okay, it's like this Medicine, Kogasaa felt bad for you and wanted to bring you in, me personally? I wanted to leave you out there since you tried to kill us but Kogasa was adamant."

"Y-yeah..." Kogasa said moving over to stand in front of the doll, it was clear she was still suffering from the hangover, but the concern in her voice was quite clear. "Look, I want you to join us, maybe if you hang around some of the humans here things won't be so bad? I mean...John is great! He's nice and he even helped me find a better way to surprise people!"

"You're just saying all of that because he said you're his personal umbrella." Medicine deadpanned

Kogasa let out a small blush, but quickly coughed "Tha-that only proves my point! John is great and I'm sure you'd enjoy being around him too! I mean, maybe some of the village children would want to play with you too!"

"Somehow I don't believe that."

"If I may interrupt?" Kaguya said calmly, taking control of the situation "Perhaps this would be good for you Ms. Medicine, you cannot be so certain of how we humans would act, and from what I've heard, John has quite the reputation around the village, so you should be met with less scrutiny."

"If I say no, I'll be stuck tied up won't I?"

"Yes." John said flatly

"Ugh...fine, I guess I can give this a try...but if you guys try anything funny…!"

"We won't...and if you really dislike it after about…a month's time, then John will let you go, right John?" Kogasa said looking up at him

"Seems fair...but you've gotta work with us too, the more hands we have helping around here, the better."

"You want me to work?!" Medicine scowled

"Yes, the princess is even willing to do it, and she's royalty." He replied jerking his thumb at the princess who gave a small bow.

"Alright fine...what kind of work do you do anyway?"

"Whatever the client asks...for the most part anyway. If it's anything that seems iffy, then you run it by me okay? Other then that, it won't be anything too crazy, maybe acting as a farm hand here or just helping out with some other tasks like that."

"Hmm...seems simple enough."

"Yup, though we should probably get Kogasa some water, let's make it a bit of a tour for you, show you around the village a bit."

"I'd like the sound of that...truth be told, I've rarely visited the village properly, I've flown over it a few times, but I've never actually...walked through it."

"Well two birds with one stone. Let's go." John said as he knelt down to undo the rope binding Medicine. With that done the four set out to get Kogasa some water to deal with her hangover and walk around the village, taking in the sights. Needless to say as the four made their way to one of the wells around the village, numerous villagers were staring at them. Part of this had to do with how Kaguya was carrying herself, though she wasn't as tall as John, she gave off an aura of elegance and regality befitting of a Princess of her caliber. Of course, another part of this had to do with the fact that all the members of Favor Trade were being seen together, or at least, the as far the villagers knew, Kogasa (who was lagging behind and holding her head still) and John were escorting these two around.

"Here Kogasa, drink this." John said lifting the bucket out of the well which was now full of water.

"Thanks..." she muttered "Downing the water, not caring that some splashed all over her clothes

"Feeling any better?"

"A little."

"You really went to town last night...I'm surprised you aren't feeling like her Princess."

"Don't foolish John, I've drank _far_ stronger alcohol in all my time being alive...the benefit of having met some of the oni that reside in Gensokyo..."Kaguya said, the last bit causing her to sigh

"You don't sound too happy about that." Medicine spoke, taking notice of her sigh

"Well...you would be right, oni are extremely hardy drinkers and I got into a bit of a drinking match with one of them, we ended up drinking for two days straight and I'm pretty sure I ended up dying at least several times."

"Wait you died?! How the hell are you alive then?!"

"Oh uh...yeah so the princess is immortal..." John said rubbing his head with a chuckle

Medicine's eyes were as wide as dinner plates at that revelation and it led to her shouting loudly again before the others could get her to calm down. When that was finished, they continued on walking around the village, John and Kogasa pointing out various buildings or small shops that were worth going to and checking out.

"That's the carpenter's shop, he's got some good lumber and things like that, we usually get some for helping out with lugging stuff around." John said "And over there is a tavern, great for drinks if you want anything. Working there is nothing too fancy, just waiting tables or acting as security."

"This is quite fascinating...to think that you and Kogasa were the only two helping these places all this time…"

"I have to admit I'm surprised too, I thought you were just some idiot in white robes." Medicine said with a smirk

"I'll have you know I'm _far_ from an idiot, especially in this particular state" he said pushing up the glasses he wore while in his Scholar form. "Anyway, this is the school, and the teacher here is pretty nice...I think you'd like her."

"Oh I know her quite well." Kaguya said, "She's friends with that insufferable Mokou.

"Excuse me, but _whose_ insufferable now?" came a voice from behind the group

They all turned around to see a person with striking red eyes, decked out in red pants with what looked to be paper charms on them. The white shirt they wore had no such charms on them and the sleeves seemed to have been burned away, leaving the person's arm bare. Their long silver hair had numerous ribbons used to tie it all up, it was quite the appearance to say the least, and the look on the person's face wasn't too kind looking at the moment.

"Oh...if it isn't the mongrel Mokou." Kaguya sneered

"Oh if it isn't the bitch of Eientei Kaguya." Mokou said in a mimicking voice

"Devolving to base insults already? Typical."

"You wanna die again you asshole?"

The air around the two of them was quickly becoming heavy, one could cut the tension with a knife, the other three members of Favor Trade, were stuck rooted to the spot as the two glared at each other, but finally it was John who spoke up

"Hey uh...look guy, I don't know what your problem with the Princess is but-"

"What do you mean _guy_?!" Mokou roared

"Uh...you're a guy right?"

"What…? No! I'm a girl!"

Everyone remained quiet for a moment at the exchange for a few moments, unsure of how to process all this save for Kaguya who was doing her best to not burst out laughing

"Really?" Was all John said

"Y-you asshole, of course I am! Look at me, would a guy have hair this long?"

"I mean...I guess so, but you've got a bit of a boyish face and-"

"B-boyish face?!"

"I-I'm not trying to be rude or anything er...miss but I mean, from first glance I guess you kinda look-"

 _ **THWACK**_

John didn't know what happened, but the next thing he knew he was on the ground looking at the sky, Mokou had given him a punch straight to the face for his troubles of trying to diffuse the escalating fight between her and Kaguya, he couldn't even hear what else she'd yelled at him before he blacked out.

John awoke, in what appeared to be...a classroom? Oh god was he having one of those nightmares where you'd show up to school without clothes on?! He quickly sat up looking at his lower body to make sure that he was clothed, which he was thankfully.

"Careful John...careful..." Came the voice of Keine holding him in place "Don't move so suddenly."

"What happened…?" John said with a moan

"That Mokou girl knocked you flat on your butt is what." Medicine said with a giggle "I can't really blame her, I'd be angry too if someone thought I was a boy."

"I can't blame John...I thought Mokou was a boy too the first time I saw her." Kogasa mumbled "I just...was smart enough to not say it out loud."

"I heard what happened from inside the school and so I decided to bring you in here to try and wake you up...I'm sorry about Mokou hitting you like that, she's not that bad, honest!"

"Having a hard time believing that right now..." John groaned sitting up "Anyway, what's your problem with her Princess? You two looked like you were about to throw down right then and there."

At this Kaguya let out a huff "I do not wish to trouble you with that bit of my life John, besides, it's a _long_ story and I'd need a cup of sake handy if I were to explain it all in great detail."

"Jeez _that_ bad…?"

"Yes. That bad indeed."

"Well, okay, I won't pry any deeper...at least not now anyway. Man, remind me to never call Mokou a guy again." he muttered rubbing his head

"Actually, I've been wondering something Princess..." Keine started, staring at her for a moment "Just why are you walking around with John and Kogasa anyway...and why is _she_ with all of you as well?" She said pointing at Medicine.

"Oh it's quite simple, Medicine and I are official members of Favor Trade!"

Silence...that was all that greeted Kaguya's declaration before one singular sound escaped Keine's lips.

"Pfffft…." she was covering her mouth, doing her best to try and hide her laughter, but after several moments she couldn't hold it in and began laughing loudly "Pfffthahahahahahaha...you aren't serious are you?"

Her question was met with silence

"Oh my god you're serious aren't you?"

"Y-yes Keine...what is so funny about this?"

"Well I don't mean to be rude...but well, you're a princess! John and Kogasa do a lot of physical labor among other things, I simply can't see you really doing anything like that."

"Oh I'm quite aware, John has given me a tour of the town and pointed out what kind of work I'll most likely be doing. So be it, I won't backpedal on this choice and if I work hard, I will earn nothing but adoration from the people of the village, a fair trade off I'd think."

"And well, I'm just here to try and…get along with the humans I guess…?" Medicine said with a shrug "Frankly, I think John is wasting his time, but I only have to hang around for a month before I can go home again."

"Di...didn't you try to poison the village about...30 years ago?" Keine asked with a raised eyebrow

"Ehehehe...maybe?"

She turned to John giving him a sideways glance "You've got quite the odd taste in partners for your business, you know that?"

"I am fully aware and I accept all the inevitable problems it will bring." John sighed

"Oh, speaking of, I believe Takamaki is looking for you. She said she had a request of you, but when she stopped by this morning, no one answered the door."

At this John and Kogasa flushed red in embarrassment "Y-yeah, we were out...uh...taking care of some things. But thanks for letting me know, we'll go see her right now."

Getting to his feet, John and the others left the school, heading towards the inn, once they stepped inside, they were greeted by a woman wearing a yellow robe who greeted them with a bow.

"Welcome to…oh you're the white knight… and the princess of Eientei!"

"Please don't call me that..." John sighed "Anyway, are you Takamaki? We heard from Keine that you were looking for us?"

"Oh yes...I have a request if that would be alright."

"Well, let's move somewhere more comfortable and get to negotiating then shall we?"

"Oh yes, of course, right this way!"

Takamaki led the four into a small room with a table sitting in the middle of it, she having sat down on one side, while John and the others sat down on the other.

"So, what's your request ma'am?" John asked

"Well...my daughter, she's become fascinated with flowers lately over the past few months, she loves them so much she's taken to planting her own little garden in the back of our inn. It's been great for business as well, giving the guests a nice something to look at while staying at the inn or using one of the bathes. There's just one problem though..."

"And what's that?" John inquired

"She's become obsessed with getting sunflowers!"

"What's the issue there?" John asked

However, it was Medicine who spoke next, getting her words out before Takamaki could say anything "You couldn't possibly mean you want us to go meet...Yuuka?"

"Yuuka…?"

The three women looked at John incredulously "You don't know Yuuka Kazami?" Kogasa said

"I'm not exactly from around here remember?"

"Anyway Takamaki..." Kaguya said getting back on topic "You want us to steal a sunflower from Yuuka Kazami...one of the most deadly youkai in Gensokyo?"

"W-well...I wouldn't say steal. I would hope you could get one, but I will not blame you if you couldn't, hell, I can't blame you for wanting to turn down this request. I merely want you to ask this...Yuuka if she'd be willing to part with one sunflower or even just a seed."

"Screw that, there's no way we're taking this request on." Medicine said bluntly

"What do we get out of it, if we do?" John said ignoring the doll

"Y-you'll do it…?!"

"Depends on what we get out of it."

"U-um well...I cannot think of much… Would some money suffice?"

"Hmmm..." John said humming to himself, the truth of the matter was that he and Kogasa didn't have a lot of money to their name. The only reason they were doing so well now, is because the villagers would trade them some food or vegetables for their hard work, part of the appeal to Favor Trade was that the villagers didn't necessarily need to pay them money."

"I don't know..." John said slowly

"W-wait, I can throw in these jewels too!" Takamaki stated hurriedly. She quickly went rummaging in one of her drawers on a nearby nightstand and pulled out several small marble like gems...or at least, to the untrained eye they were just orbs, but John knew what they really were.

"What the hell...hang on...ma'am...where did you get those?"

"These…? A strange old man paid for a day's stay with them said if I ever needed a favor from you, you'd definitely do it for those. They're quite beautiful if I say so myself and-"

"We'll do it." John stated

" _WHAT?!"_ Everyone (including Takamkai) exclaimed loudly

"I said, we're doing it. Those aren't jewels...that's Grade 5 materia..." John said "That is some of the rarest stuff and judging by the red color of them...this is Savage Aim and Savage Might materia, which makes them extremely valuable."

"Okaaaay...so what do these actually _do_?" Medicine asked

"Okay...well Savage Aim increases your Critical Hit rate, it's a must if you're running a job like Machinst, which really benefits from crits when it comes to their wildfire ability and the Might increases your Determination, not as important as Crit, but it can increase the overall power of attacks and you all have no idea what I'm saying do you?"

The girls all shook their heads, the explanation going well over their heads.

"Heh...I figured, it's fine, but yeah, we'll definitely go see this Yuuka woman for these."

"I don't think you understand John." Kogasa said "Yuuka is a terrifying youkai, I hear she kills anyone who gets close to her flower field!"

"I've heard she slaughtered at least half of Gensokyo in a homicidal rampage some couple hundred years back." Medicine added

"I've heard she's the original user of the master spark...you know that attack the witch loves to use?" Kaguya said calmly "Going there won't be an easy task. we'll need to be ready for a fight."

"Then get ready everyone, we're going to take on Yuuka Kazami and get that sunflower!" John said clenching his fist with a determined face

Medicine just snorted "You're really freaking insane aren't you?"

"When you're a warrior of light, you sort of have to be, if only a little."

At this Medicine laughed "Well hell, alright then 'Warrior of Light' I'm in, besides, if things get really bad, I'll just run off."

"I'll shoot you down myself then." Kogasa said with a glare

"Alright alright, let's get ready and be off shall we?" Kaguya chimed in again, really, was she going to have to be the sensible one out of this group?

Everyone agreed, and left the inn, preparing for what could quite possibly be the most insane thing they've ever done in their lives.

 _Meanwhile at the Garden of the Sun_

Yuuka Kazami sat down at the table of her small cottage a small pot of tea. "Another boring winter day..." she muttered to herself. These were the quiet times of the year, where not even the Primsriver Sisters would stop by to perform every now and then. She longed for something exciting to happen or for someone _anyone_ to come visit the garden...but well...Yuuka had a 'reputation' so to speak. She'd stopped by the village a few times and had tried to make some conversation with the locals, but to put it bluntly, the people were _terrified_ of her. She couldn't blame them, she could ravage their entire village if she wanted to, but she'd never do that! She'd have to be _really_ mad to do that, not to mention it'd lead to some awful consequences for her in the long run.

"Perhaps I should try visiting the village again?" She mused taking a sip "It would be nice to see the flower shop again at the very least. I just hope they all don't stare again..." she took another sip, enjoying her drink and contemplating what to do still "Maybe I shouldn't, that Hakurei girl should be holding another festival in a few months during spring...things would be a lot more livelier then. Still...I wish _something_ would happen..."

Oh if she only knew how much that wish was going to be granted...

* * *

 **So yep, that happened, John has now managed to snag two new party members at once! With that being the case, he's now got a LIGHT PARTY. For those not in the know, in FFXIV a light party is a group of at least 4-7 people. Now hopefully, I should get a new chapter up somewhere in October maybe, provided I don't get distracted by certain other things. So, until then my friends!**


	6. Chapter 6:The Garden of the Sun(Hard)

**Hey Everyone, Happy Halloween! Wait...what do you mean it's not Ocotober? What do you mean it's past _Christmas_!? Well, I guess this makes a nice Christmas present, even if it is a couple days late. Enjoy everyone, and happy holidays to you all!**

* * *

The morning of John and the other's new mission had come. Since this was something that could potentially get violent (dangerously so at that) he decided to give the girls some time off to relax and take it easy before they moved out. John himself could barely sleep as he kept imagining just how terrifying this Yuuka person actually was. Still, he was in charge, so he couldn't show any (outward) fear to his allies, lest they become scared themselves. He was already up and ready, messing with the bracelet as he thought for which Job to tackle this as. He _could_ go as one of the healer jobs, but the problem there is that they have no real 'tank' so to speak. The closest they had was Kaguya, but it wasn't that she was sturdy, so much as she just couldn't die. He kept thinking about it more and more until a knock came at his door. Medicine and Kogasa had been sleeping up until this point, but the knocking managed to wake them up. John answered it to reveal Kaguya standing before him, the princess having a concerned look on her face.

"Are you alright John…? You look awful."

There were no mirrors in this shack, so John had no idea how bad (or good) he looked. "Really? I feel just fine." John lied

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah...just getting ready to deal with this Yuuka person...if we have to fight her."

"We most likely will." Medicine said with a yawn "So if anyone has a plan, I'm all ears. Personally, I say we abandon the mission right here and now."

"Stop being a coward." Kogasa growled as she rubbed her eyes "John said we're doing it, so we're doing it."

"Yeah yeah, I'm sure you'd drown yourself if he told you to..."

"W-well..."

"Anyway!" John interrupted "I don't have too much of a plan here really, I don't know much about this Yuuka person...but if she's as tough as you say, then I have a question for you Kaguya..."

"Yes? What is it?"

"How long does it take until you resurrect after dying?"

"Er...I'm not sure, I never really keep track of it." She replied rubbing her chin in contemplation

"Damn...well that plan is out I guess."

"Nonsense John, there's a simple way to answer that question."

"Really? How?"

"Easy...Medicine was it? Do you have any fast acting poisons?"

"Of course I do. I've got something that can kill a human in minutes!" She proclaimed proudly

"Very good, please use it on me."

"E-excuse me…?"

"Use it on me, Immortal I may be, but at the end of it all, I'm still human, so it should work right?"

"Hold on now Princess, are you sure you want to go through with that?" Kogasa asked alarmed

"Oh calm down, I'll be fine...afterwards. Now then, John, is this fine with you?"

"Well, I don't like it, but we don't have any other way of finding out. Do it Medicine."

The doll nodded, and moving close she placed a hand over Kaguya's face. "Now breath it in deep." She said before letting out a small ghastly looking purple cloud, that Kaguya inhaled deeply. What followed next was something that made John's stomach churn. Kaguya began slowly gasping for air, her eyes rolled back into her head as blood began pooling from her mouth. Her entire body went pale as she began convulsing on the spot, foam coming from her mouth, mixing with the blood to create a truly disturbing sight. It was a full three minutes before Kaguya died.

"Okay, I'm gonna start timing her." John said as he grabbed his phone and flipped over to a timer app. He kept track of it intensely, keeping his thumb hovering over the stop button while looking at Kaguya's lifeless body.

1 minute…

3 minutes…

5 minutes…

15 minutes…

25 minutes.

It was at this point that Kaguya's eyes shot open as she looked over at John who had stopped the timer.

"So how long was that?" Kaguya asked casually

"Uh...25 minutes."

"You kept count…?" Medicine asked

"Yeah, my phone has a timer." He said showing it to everyone in the room "Pretty useful for times like these."

"That's...odd, so that thing tells time?" Kogasa asked poking it

"Yep, and other cool features too. Kaguya has one too."

"Ah yes, I must learn how to properly use that thing sometime. Eirin keeps telling me it's useful for long range communication." Kaguya said with a sigh

"It is. I was wondering why you never asked me for my number or anything."

"Oh, your number is already in it, I just don't want to disturb you is all."

"I...wait...how did Eirin get my…? You know what, never mind."

"So is her being dead for 25 minutes good for your plan or not?" Medicine asked

"Well...not really no. But I can work with this I guess. Medicine, you have poisons that can slow someone down or hamper their movement right?"

"Yeah...why?"

"Then this means we may just be able to pull this off if we get into a fight. Come on, we're wasting sunlight. The sooner we talk to Yuuka the better. I'll explain on the way."

The group made their way to the Garden of the Sun where Yuuka Kazami made her home, as before when John had seen it, he couldn't help but think that it was an extremely beautiful sight. Even in this winter weather, the area still felt quite warm, unnaturally so. He shook the thought from his mind instead focusing on the task at hand. Once the four of them touched down near the entrance and sighed. It was time to turn into a job with an outfit he wasn't too fond of having to wear in real life.

"Astrologian." He muttered and like before he was engulfed in a quick light before reappearing decked out in what could only be described as a gown with a space motif going on throughout it, with small bits of gold tacked on here and there. The hat, was quite large, comically so, and had a crescent moon on the front-right side of it. Needless to say, the outfit looked a bit more womanly than one would expect, but John liked the design well enough that he'd glamoured it onto his player character in the game (besides no one would really care there) but now he was kicking himself as he stood there in front of three girls.

All of whom stifled some giggles

"W-wow John, I didn't know you were into _that_ kind of thing." Medicine said with a loud snort

"S-shut up, look, I thought the outfit was cool and I-!"

"Oh yes John...it's 'cool' for sure." Kogasa giggled "Really great for a guy like yourself!"

"Oh let's just get going already..." John grumbled "You all know the plan right?"

"Yes, we're well aware. Still...I fear Miss Kazami may not be too much of an issue if she sees that outfit you're wearing."

The rest of the walk remained quiet as John quietly seethed at the mocking he'd gotten, but as they continued on, they came upon the realization that the sunflowers were massive and acted as walls as they made their way through it all. It was a full hour of walking before Medicine piped up

"Okay so...why didn't we just fly to her place?"

"Come on, you can't really see much of anything with all these flowers, that and we don't want her seeing us and then just shooting us down without a second thought." Kogasa answered "Still, it'd be nice if we got some idea as to where Yuuka was."

"Turn around silly!" came an unfamiliar voice, which made everyone stand stock still before turning around slowly. There they saw a woman in a red plaid skirt, with shoulder length, wavy, green hair. She had an umbrella over her head as she walked, and though her smile seemed nice and caring, the striking red of her eyes was enough to send a chill of fear through a person. Despite all that, Yuuka remained calm and friendly with a noticeable cheer in her voice.

"Goodness, it has been forever since I've had any visitors, and these are quite the strange ones as well. I never expected to be visited by the princess of Eientei or...my, you're Medicine aren't you? You aren't getting into any trouble again are you?"

"U-uh...not at all!" Medicine replied with a fake smile

"Good, this is no place to talk though, come I'll show you to my home."

The others nodded to one another before following her. The air around them was tense and awkward, while Yuuka herself had merely been humming the entire time as they went on. Before long they found a small cottage nestled away that had all kinds of flowers growing all over it.

"Well here we are. Come now, I'll get you all some tea."

Following her inside, Yuuka's home was quite quaint and unassuming. For someone who was labeled as an extremely deadly youkai, this was not the kind of abode he expected her to have at all. In fact, it could be said that for some people, this would be the perfect dream home to escape from the noise and pressures of daily life and to simply enjoy the scenery that surrounded them out in a place like this.

"Nice place you got here." John said

"Oh thank you! I quite enjoy it myself. The only real issue would be the fairies, but they aren't too much trouble once you learn how to deal with them."

"And uh...how do you do that?" Kogasa asked sheepishly

"Oh easy, a little danmaku here, a swift punch or kick there, that usually sends them running."

"A-ah..right..." Kogasa replied, though her eyes showed that she was practically screaming for some reason to get out of here and back to the safety of the office

"Here we are, now please enjoy yourselves, I even have some snacks!"

"We're quite humbled. Thank you." Kaguya said maintaining a calm demeanor, but it was clear it was all an act for as she lifted the cup up to her lips, her hand was shaking quite violently. Everyone else was pretty much the same way, and a silence permeated the room before Yuuka spoke up.

"So tell me strangers, who are you two? I know about Medicine and the Princess, but I don't think I've ever seen you two before."

"I'm John Graham and this is Kogasa Tatara...she's my umbrella."

Kogasa nearly choked on her drink before regaining her composure "J-John! Don't say that out loud!" Kogasa exclaimed blushing profusely

"What? It's true isn't it?" John asked

"Well...yeah, but...look saying something like out loud is embarrassing okay?"

"Right...sorry Kogasa."

"Well, you two are certainly quite interesting, but what brings you all here?"

Seeing this as the perfect way to present their case, John immediately went into the explanation of exactly why they all came here and why they'd been looking for Yuuka specifically. The Flower Youkai sat patiently, not interrupting him as she drank her tea, all the while nodding here and there.

"I see...so a human is making a garden and wishes to add some sunflowers to it?"

"That's right. Would you be willing to lend us some seeds?"

"Oh of course I would! From what you've told me, this person is quite dedicated to her garden, and any chance to help that dedication grow would be wonderful!"

"Really? That's great!" John exclaimed smiling at the others, it looks like they'd managed to get through this without going through a fight, which was pretty lucky all things considered.

"However..."

Oh crap…

"Huh...is something wrong?" Kogasa asked

"Oh no, not at all, I simply want you all to help me with something, is that fine?"

John looked at the others who all nodded in agreement. They'd gotten this far, so things should be fine enough.

"Splendid! Follow me!" Yuuka exclaimed clapping her hands together before leading everyone outside. She walked them along the dirt path, making turns and such that just left the others feeling confused before they were finally in a patch of flat land with no flowers around them, the soil was soft so it could definitely be used to plant more flowers if one wanted to. They all looked around at it, somewhat confused...was she expecting them to help her plant some more flowers as a means of compensation or something?

"Now then...Yuuka said calmly "This place will do perfectly. There are no flowers here, so we can fight with no repercussions."

"Wait...what do you mean fight?!" Medicine exclaimed fearfully

"Oh nothing, I merely want to know what tactics you all devised to deal with me."

"W-wait, how do you-" Kogasa started

"...Know? I've known ever since you set foot here. The flowers told me, how else did you think I knew you were here and how to find you so quickly?"

"So this was a trap after all…?" Kaguya scowled

"A trap? No, nothing of the sort. I asked, and you agreed, that is all there is to it." Yuuka said with a calm smile. "Be at ease, for I have no intent to kill, but just as I said before...John you are interesting, I cannot shake the feeling that there is something about you."

"That's great...but do we _really_ have to fight?"

"Oh yes, I want to see if I have a counter to whatever you all have planned. To that end, you may all go against me, I'm quite interested as to what you all have come up with."

"Well, this isn't how I expected this to go but...everyone, get ready!"

Everyone assumed a fighting stance of some kind, while Yuuka kept the same smile on her face "That's great...and so you know: I'm not using Danmaku~ "

"W-why not?!" Kogasa cried incredulously

"I just think it'll be more fun that way."

"Oh crap..." Medicine muttered

"Alright everyone, you know what to do!" John commanded as he withdrew his weapon, a small globe like object that had cards floating around it. This weapon was known as a planisphere, but what John was carrying was known as Sharpened Sphere of the Last Heir, one of the strongest weapons currently available to this particular job.

"Right!" The others cried in unison, ready to fight...even if Kogasa and Medicine were trembling somewhat.

The fight started off quickly, Kaguya of all people took to the front, brandishing a small branch with beautiful jewels on the tip. It was beautiful, but now was not the time to marvel at it. Kaguya gave it a small swing with several sprays of danmaku flying all over

"A frontal assault? How direct for a princess like yourself." Yuuka grinned, effortlessly dodging them and flying in close to her. She was preparing to throw a powerful punch to Kaguya, but John had prepared for this. The Astrologian job had a certain gimmick to it in that the cards that floated around the planisphere could be used to administer all sorts of buffs to the party. In this case, prior to their arrival, John had pulled out the perfect card.

"Kaguya, a bole is coming your way!" John exclaimed, drawing the card and raising it to the sky. A small green light in the shape of a tree enveloped Kaguya just before Yuuka struck her, allowing the princess to tank the hit for more effectively than she normally would be able to.

"W-what in the world…?" Yuuka stammered "That attack should have knocked you out cold!"

"That's called 20% damage reduction!" John exclaim in satisfaction "Don't worry Kaguya, I'll fix you up, good thing I'm in Nocturnal Sect!"

"What does that even _mean_?!" Medicine cried

"It means when I heal Kaguya, she gets a barrier!" He replied casting his magic on Kaguya, the princess immediately felt the pain fade away from her body, before she jumped back.

"Medicine, your turn!" Kaguya called out

"Alright I got it! Just hope this works. "Hey, Kazami, take this!" She yelled while firing a poison cloud at her. Yuuka was still too caught up by John's words to react in time, and she took a face full of the poison, quickly moving out of it, but the damage is done.

" _Damn...this poison, it's slowing my body...I had no idea Medicine could use something so potent."_ Yuuka thought _"Still...I should be able to turn this around, I'll need to take out the boy first..."_

With that being her Plan, Yuuka made a beeline for John, she was moving slower than usual, but she knew she could still reach him...until Kaguya got in the way again, acting as a wall between him and her.

"Imperishable Night's End, Paschal's Moon!" Kaguya yelled, causing blue danmaku to spread out from her branch, which acted as a wall protecting John and the others while making Yuuka retreat back as she attempted to dodge the red orbs that were being fired off in such a way that the blue damnaku obscured it. Unfortunately, the poison was taking effect even quicker than she anticipated and she ended up taking several hits as she moved, causing her to growl in frustration.

"Alright Kogasa, Balance, coming your way!" John said pulling out another card and putting its effects on her. "You'll hit her harder now, so you know what to do!"

"Right! Janome Spiral!"

Yuuka wasn't prepared for this spellcard. She'd already been pushed back by Kaguya's spell card, but Kogasa's was just...strange. The danmaku shot out, but as she attempted to dodge, the bullets and orbs moved along with her, making it difficult to find a gap, she just barely managed to dodge a few, but she was still taking hits thanks to the poison. The combined onslaught of Kaguya and Kogasa was enough to send Yuuka falling to to the ground.

"Wow…do you think we managed to defeat her?" Kaguya asked regrouping with the others

"I wouldn't bet on it." John said "I get the feeling she's not not done yet."

"What makes you say that? I think we did pretty well!" Medicine smirked

"Well...there's the fact that she's standing up."

Everyone looked over to where Yuuka had fallen and sure enough the flower youkai had indeed gotten back to her feet. Her face looked deadly as she stared the group down. "I must admit...you all are a lot stronger than I thought. If you were all attempting to kill me, I think I may have actually been in trouble. However, that _really_ hurt!"

"Um...we're sorry?" Kogasa sheepishly said

Her words fell on deaf ears as Yuuka began making her way towards them again. Kogasa and Kaguya went on the offensive shooting off more danmaku to deter her, but this time, Yuuka just took the attacks as she made her way forward. She was a slow moving but powerful force, and before long she was right up in Kaguya's face. She cocked her fist back, putting more power into it before delivering a sickening punch to the princess abdomen, she was hit so hard, the others heard her bones crack from the impact of the attack. Needless to say that Kaguya was down for the count...and that was _with_ John's shielding on her still. Kaguya crumpled to the ground, twitching in pain. Kogasa meanwhile had frozen up and that was all the time Yuuka needed to deliver a solid hit to her jaw, knocking her out too.

"Medicine, can you get more poison on her?!" John exclaimed in a panicked voice

"I-I can try but-!"

"Not so fast!" Yuuka interrupted grabbing the doll girl by the arm and slamming her into the ground, and then kicking far across the field for good measure. John could swear he'd heard another crack, as he saw Medicine fly over him. His entire team was downed in just a few moments, leaving him as the last man standing.

"And now we fall to the ring leader. I must say John...you're pretty good to direct such a strange crew of people against me...and actually pull it off to some passable effect, any last words before you join them on the ground?"

"Well I-" His words were cut off though as a new sensation overtook his body. It was like a headache...but it didn't exactly hurt. John could feel his mind leaving his body, as if he'd been spirited away. A blinding light overtook his body and the next thing he knew he was in the village?

"What the hell…?" He muttered looking around at his surroundings, this was definitely the village, but the appearance was off. Everything was sepia-toned as if he were looking at an old photograph, but even so, everyone around him were moving as normal, as if there was nothing abnormal going on at all.

"Okaaaay..." John murmured _"I guess I'm back home? Did Yuuka do this?"_

As he pondered just what was going on, as if on cue, Yuuka walked right by him. John instantly got into a combat stance, but Yuuka just passed him by, as if he weren't even there. It was then, that it all became clear to him: This was a vision. A vision of the past. Back in the game, the main character had several instances of looking into the past of people they'd met due to a unique trait they had known as 'The Echo'. Was this Yuuka's past then? Why'd this happen now? And how the hell did he get the power of the echo?

These questions raced through John's mind, but it wasn't important right now. What he needed to do was follow Yuuka, what she was doing in the village he had no idea, but he was sure he'd find out soon enough. He walked after her, the flower youkai having that same smile on her face as she walked into the markets, perusing several stalls. Things seemed pretty normal for the most part, so what was the point of all this?

"Hey...was that Yuuka Kazami…?" said one of the shoppers after she left

"Yeah, it was, I don't know what she's here for, but I don't feel safe."

"Yeah, isn't she some super strong youkai?"

"Mhm, I didn't want to anger her, she could kill everyone in the village!"

"Why the hell is she allowed to walk free? A youkai like her ought to be killed already!"

"Hey, not so loud! She could hear you!"

"R-right...sorry."

As that exchanged finished, John took a closer look around. The sea of people shopping practically parted for Yuuka and while she wore that same smile, he could see they all looked flat out terrified of her. The stall owners all wore fake smiles while talking to her, some stuttered or tripped on their words and one woman was visibly trembling as she spoke to her.

And while all this was happening, Yuuka kept that same warm smile on her face. Even as she carried her bags, but John could feel something from her...it was sadness? Loneliness? There was something fake about her smile and whatever it was, it was an awful negative emotion that she was hiding behind her it. Before he could do anything else, the image of the village went dark and he was now inside Yuuka's house. The air was different from the homely feeling that had been present earlier, but now it was of pure despair and sadness. Yuuka sat at her table alone, a pot of tea in front of her along with some snacks and a rather big cake white cake with several strawberries on top. There were several other plates laid out, but no one else was there.

Was this a birthday party…? But for who?

"Happy Birthday dear Yuuka~" Yuuka said in an extremely depressing and sad voice "What a fool I was, of course no one would come here..."

It was in this singular moment that John felt his heart break, seeing Yuuka sitting there completely crestfallen and miserable was just flat out depressing in every sense of the word...he so eagerly wanted to help her in this moment and to be a genuine friend to Yuuka. Maybe that's what this sudden vision was about? He had given into all the rumors about Yuuka right away, and even went so far as to formulate a battle plan against her. Maybe that was the wrong thing to do? Maybe he should have just believed in her character and that she wouldn't attack them at all?

Another flash of white light and John was no longer in Yuuka's home, but back in the present time, with Yuuka looking at him with an annoyed look.

"It's not nice to daydream." She said coldly while grabbing his collar "Now then, I'll ask again...any last words?"

John was silent for a moment as his wits returned to him, before looking at Yuuka for a moment. What caught Yuuka off guard was when he moved in and hugged her. No words, only actions. This surprised Yuuka so much that she froze up before letting go of his collar and pushing him away.

"What...what are you doing?" she asked cautiously

"What do you mean?"

"What was that for? Why are you hugging me?"

"Well...it's a long story but...Yuuka, you were treated unfairly. The villagers all treat you like you're going to wipe them out in an instant. So they talk behind your back, say you need to be killed, and assume you're this extremely evil being who will kill someone just for looking at her wrong."

"I..."

"And because of that...you're lonely too, aren't you?"

At this Yuuka froze up even more. "That's not...true."

"It's alright, to be honest...before coming to Gensokyo, I was pretty alone as well."

"You? I find that hard to believe."

"It's true, back home, I was just a run of the mill worker, no one tried to get to know me and I didn't try to get to know them either."

"That sounds...kind of sad."

"I guess it is, but hey, I'm here now and I've got genuine friends...you could have them too."

"And how do you figure that? I've tried being nice, but even so, people still look at me with fear, they recoil from my very presence. For a while, I loved that reaction, but even fellow youkai do the same. They listen to all the rumors, they...they think I'll just wantonly murder anyone and anything...I've long since grown out of that way of life."

"...Wait, you've done it before?"

"Only when I was young and some humans kept attacking me! I was...a lot more volatile back in my younger days..."

"Okay...well, look Yuuka, what's done is done and in the past, but...if you want, I could be your friend. You know...provided you don't kill me right now."

At this Yuuka's eyes squinted at John "And how could I believe you?"

"Easy, I run a place called Favor Trade. Think of it as a promise on behalf of Favor Trade's name, I'll be your friend to the end of time, the same goes for the others!"

The two of them took a look at the others were all sprawled out on the ground

"Well...when they wake up I guess."

"I see...and...you'll really be my friend?"

"Yeah…and as a friend, I ask if you can still help us with our flower problem?"

"Oh...of course."

 _ **Three Hours Later**_

The members of Favor Trade had returned to the village. While Kaguya had actually died during that encounter, Kogasa and Medicine had luckily only suffered some broken bones (or in Medicine's cast a few messed up doll joints) that would thankfully heal up after a while, though most of them were still keeping a good distance from Yuuka, trailing behind her in a hopes to not draw attention to themselves. John had returned to wearing the Paladin armor, he needed to wear something a bit less...well girly so to speak. Needless to say Yuuka was surprised at the transformation (and had thought he was wearing that the Astrologian outfit as some perverted kink or something) but she'd question her new friend about that later on. As for now, they were arriving at the Inn, where the inn owner was more than a little shocked to see Yuuka, the almighty terrifying youkai standing before her.

"You're back! A-and with..."

"Yes, I've come to help." Yuuka said brusquely "Now then, take me to this garden would you?"

"Er...sure, but what about the other two over there? They don't look so good…" the owner said looking at Kogasa and Medicine

"We'll be fine...just...need to lie down for a bit."Kogasa mumbled

"Y-yeah...just...had a rough fall is all." Medicine added, plopping down into a chair with Kogasa

The owner raised an eyebrow, but chose not to question it as she lead John, Kaguya, and Yuuka along to the garden.

"Hmmm, not bad. Not the worst I've seen, but for a human, this is a well-kept garden."Yuuka commented

"T-thank you..." The owner replied meekly

"Now then, this will take only a moment." Reaching her hand out to an empty spot in the small garden, Yuuka focused intensely for a few moments and everyone present could swear that the earth was rattling at the sheer amount of power she was putting out. The owner was frightened, John was concerned, and Kaguya had managed to keep a straight face (while panicking internally) at the entire display. When the mild shaking was done, several small sunflowers sprouted up from the ground.

"There, all done." Yuuka said

"Uh...that's it?" John asked with an eyebrow raised

"Yes, what were you expecting…?"

"Something a bit more terrifying I'd expect, the ground was shaking after all..." Kaguya said sighing

"Oh that's just a thing that happens, I mean, I am accelerating the growth of plants from nothing after all."

"Well, either way, we're done. That's another request completed. Now then, miss if I could have that materia..." John asked

"Materia…? Oh right, the little gems! I'll get them right away!" She scurried off, leaving John and the others to converse for a few moments before returning to them with the materia in hand.

"Here you are, I hope you don't mind coming again sometime...though I don't have anymore of these...materia things."

John let out a chuckle "Don't worry, I'll still help you out, even if I won't get some materia out of it." He pocketed the items, feeling extremely happy that he'd scored some materia without (too much) hassle at the end of it all. With that being done, the group exited the inn, with Medicine and Kogasa still supporting each other as they let out small wheezes.

"So John, what shall we do now?" Kaguya asked "The job is done and we are in good health...mostly." She said looking over to Kogasa and Medicine.

"Well, I guess we should get Kogasa and Medicine patched up first. After that, I say we grab some food, after all that I could eat a horse."

"Agreed..." Kaguya said with a slight nod

"I...guess I'll be going then, you don't need me after all." Yuuka stated

"You're coming with us." John said bluntly "We're friends now and it wouldn't be right if we all went without you, right everyone?"

"While I am a bit...displeased that you killed me earlier, I agree with John, getting to know someone is never a bad thing." Kaguya said with a smile

"I-I guess it's fine, but can we please get me patched up first?" Kogasa asked "That fight took a lot of me."

"Same here, you nearly broke a few parts of me..." Medicine sighed "And besides...getting to say that I'm friends with Yuuka Kazami? That's something you don't get to hear often. I'm sure that'd freak people out rather well." Medicine said with a mischievous grin

These responses were _not_ what Yuuka was expecting at all, she had fully expected John to wish her well and that she'd be on her way, back to the lonesome cabin back in her flower field, but this was a surprise to see, especially from people she had just fought against only a few hours ago.

"Come on, you've got to be hungry right?"

"Well...I suppose a bowl of ramen or two wouldn't hurt."

"That's the spirit! Now let's get going everyone."

After getting Kogasa all patched up (John would have to remember to thank Reisen later) and Medicine stating that she'd heal over a day or two, the group proceeded over to the ramen shop. It was still the middle of the day, so the place was quite full with customers.

"Yo, old man, got room for five?" John called out as everyone entered

"Oh if isn't John, sure I've got a couple seats o...pen." He said looking at who had joined him, the entire restaurant had gone quiet as they all laid eyes on Yuuka who let out a sigh

"Perhaps it wasn't a good idea for me to come along after all..."

"Don't worry about it, forget them, you're with us!"

"Er, right, let's get you all situated." The owner said moving everyone to a set of seats in the corner. "Hey John, you got a minute, something I want to talk to you about if you don't mind."

John raised an eyebrow "Sure thing, I'll be back in a bit ladies." He said following the the owner over to the opposite corner.

"Okay, why is Yuuka Kazami here?!" He whispered at John

"Take it easy man, it's fine. Yuuka...really isn't as bad as people thinks she is. She just needed some friends is all."

"Friends? Come on John, a youkai like her? I don't think she really wants friends or anything like that."

"And how would you know?" John asked trying to suppress his anger "Did you ever stop to talk to her? Get to know her? Not shiver in fear of her every time someone so much as speaks her name?"

"W-well..."

"No you didn't, you bought into the words of everyone else...just like I did. Everyone deserves a chance, and I'm giving Yuuka hers. I did the same for Medicine and people have come to love Kogasa."

"Well...her keeping the kids happy and cleaning up my house was a good surprise...even if I'm not entirely sure how she got in."

"See? And I can assure you that people's view of Medicine will change within the month too, just gotta give them a chance you know?"

"Well, I guess you're right. So wait...you saying you tamed Yuuka then?" His eyes growing wide

"Uh well...no I-"

"Never mind, I'm sorry I doubted you. I should have realized...you'd have never bought anyone so dangerous here unless you were sure you had them under control, boy do I feel stupid."

"I really think you're misunderstanding-"

"No no, I get it, look as a show of apology I'll waive the cost. Sides, you do enough for the village already."

Unable to correct the owner, John went back over and sat down with the others.

"So, what did he say about me?" Yuuka asked with her eyes closed, awaiting the worst.

"Oh nothing too bad, I set him straight...annnnnnnd he may think that I've tamed you like I 'tamed' Kogasa and Medicine."

The table went silent as everyone tried to process this information, but it was Yuuka who spoke up first with a deadly smile on her face

"And just what do you mean by 'tamed'? It's not nice to imply things about a lady's purity John~!"

"W-whoa, it's nothing like 'that'." John said catching on to what she meant "I just say that so the people aren't to worried about Kogasa and Medicine being here."

"Y-yeah...besides, John would never do...'that' to someone!"

"I dunno...you seen the way he looks at Kaguya sometimes?" Medicine said smirking

"Oh goodness John, have I captivated your desires?" Kaguya said in a mock ashamed tone "You wouldn't be the first...but I suppose if it's you then..."

"Stop that, you're gonna give people the wrong idea!" John said waving his hands around frantically

"Are you saying that I'm not beautiful enough for you?"

"Huh, what? N-no Princess, you're great looking and I'd go out with you in a heartbeat and-"

"Oh...is that so?" Medicine said grinning broadly, "I know we haven't known each other for two long, but now I'm curious John, just who do you think is the cutest girl here hmmm~?"

At this question, there was only one phrase that went through John's mind:

Oh crap.

Oh double crap.

Oh triple crap.

Oh crappity crap crap on a crap cracker.

There was no way he could feasibly answer this question without pissing someone off. He'd seen enough anime to know how this ended. Usually with him comically being beaten...and of course the food wasn't here yet, so he couldn't use that as an escape. The girls were all leaning in, curious to who he'd choose. Well, time to take his lickings like a man.

"Everyone." he said plainly

"What?!" the other 4 replied

"I-I'm serious. Have you girls looked at yourselves in a mirror? I mean, I could list off something that made you all desirable to any guy!"

"Do tell." Yuuka said with that same smile as before

"Yes, I'm curious as well." Kaguya added

"I wanna know too..." Kogasa said somewhat shyly

"I get the feeling your bluffing, but go ahead John, tell us in your own words, one thing that makes us all 'desirable'." Mediciine said with a distinct tone of sarcasm

"Okay well...let's start with Kogasa?"

"Eep!"

"Well, Kogasa is the friendliest person I've met so far, and when she's happy, she's got a smile as bright as the sun."

"R-really…?" she replied blushing

"I want to go next." Kaguya giggled

"Well, you're a lot more down to earth than I thought Princess. I mean, from what I know, most royals would just want to sit around all day and do nothing, but you actually wanted to join me on missions like this, and for me that speaks volumes of your character, and I think that's something to be commended for."

"Oh my, why thank you. It is nothing really." Kaguya said raising a sleeve to her face to hide her rapidly reddening face

"Alright then, my turn." Medicine said with a smirk "Show me what ya got John."

"Well, for you Medicine, I like that you have a more casual attitude. It's pretty relaxing really, it feels like you're willing to say the thing that no one else wants to say, which can be quite nice actually. I'll throw in a bonus here, I also like that you didn't try to back out of the deal we made, or went running away when we went to find Yuuka."

"Oh uh...thanks...same to you." Medicine replied awkwardly, she didn't expect that at allowing

"And finally me." Yuuka replied "What can you say to a woman you've known for only a few hours at best?"

"Well tell me Yuuka, did you plant all those flowers yourself?"

"Of course."

"Well there you go, that green thumb of yours is impressive. Being able to create a beautiful garden like that is really impressive. It may sound silly, but I wouldn't mind settling down in a place like yours someday. It was really comfortable, and had a nice view."

"Oh I see...you're quite forward John."

"Huh, what do you mean?" He asked raising an eyebrow

It was then that he noticed the playful smile on Yuuka's face "Saying things like that is dangerous you know~"

"You got any idea what she's on about? Medicine whispered to Kogasa, to which the umbrella shrugged

Yuuka got to her feet, smiling still, "Everyone, I have an announcement!" Yuuka said calling attention to herself and the group around her. "I, Yuuka Kazami, am happy to announce that John and I are engaged! We're hoping to get married soon!"

The entire restaurant went quiet at this news as everyone, even John himself looked at Yuuka in bewildered surprise.

"H-hey Yuuka, what are you saying?!" John said as he jumped to his feet, "Don't go telling people-Mmmm!"

His words were cut off as Yuuka planted a kiss directly on his lips. His first kiss, stolen by the green haired flower youkai. "Shhh, too late to back out now~!" Yuuka cooed after pulling away to let him breath. His blushing intensely

Needless to say the entire building (and the village itself) was in an uproar for the rest of the day...

* * *

 **So, that just happened! Once again I want to wish you all a happy holidays. And there's one thing I've been meaning to ask to those reading, so if anyone feels like sharing their thoughts, then please feel free to. The question I have for you all is would you as readers, like to see some of the current members of Favor Trade get access to some of the job classes that John has access to? The reason I haven't gone and done this myself is because I feel like it'd rob John of something that makes him stand out,while also making some characters stronger than they already are. That said, on the flip side, it could be fun to have Kogasa running around as the resident white mage, while Medicine is the bard (And I'm sure we're all aware of how often Kaguya is portrayed as NEET). Again,I couldn't come to a decision myself, so I decided what better way to decide than to ask the readers? Feel free to let me know what you think, and see you in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7: Pain Game

**And so here we are with another chapter. There's a bit of a timeskip, but really there'll have to be some as some of the things I want to do, are gated behind what all was added in the Stormblood Expansion for FFXIV. Another thing is that after looking through the comments some of you left, I won't be going with the idea of giving the girl's job roles. _But_ , the user Deadlocke did give me an interesting idea that I may very well end up following up on at some point in the future. Anyways, I won't take up anymore of your time. Enjoy.**

* * *

Three months have passed since John's initial arrival into Gensokyo. Things had been going well for John for the most part. After the 'announcement' of his engagement, John had to put up with quite the troublesome response from the villagers. While some congratulated him on landing such a beautiful wife (and on this end he had to agree, Yuuka was quite pretty), others would yell at him and tell him to get out of the village, claiming he was making it into a youkai den. Thankfully though, the village was for more in favor of him than they were against him, and everyone really did believe him to be a youkai tamer who made the girls subservient to him, so there was no issue. To them, Yuuka was but another conquest. And besides, the upside was that Yuuka could help defend the village if need be, and with that possible outcome hovering over them, the villagers kept their misgivings about the female members of Favor Trade to themselves. What was interesting to note is that Yuuka wasn't really a member of Favor Trade, or at least, she was never doing jobs like the others. Instead, Yuuka had opted to be the 'personal housekeeper' for her 'darling hubby'. While the office wasn't particularly dirty, it was indeed still a small shack for the most part and the place could use some livening up at the very least.

At first, John refused, saying that it wasn't so bad. But it all it took was one windy night and a few pieces of wood being ripped off the side of the house to change his mind. To that end, Yuuka began fortifying the office a bit more, while also making the place a lot nicer to look at, adding some flowers inside as well as outside, and promising to personally take care of them. John had to admit that he was plenty thankful, as well as privately admitting to himself, that Yuuka had quite the knack for house duties. It seemed she was indeed intent on playing the 'housewife' role quite a bit. She'd tease and joke with the others, almost as if that melancholy John had seen in his vision was completely erased. On one occasion, one of the villagers had seen the two of them talking while Yuuka watered some of the plants, and when giving congratulations on their impending wedding, Yuuka had told them they were putting it on hold for now, that John had said he wanted to save up some money to treat her well.

While it wasn't the _best_ thing he could have asked for, John was still quite happy with this, as it helped to quell the talks within the village for now.

During all this time, he'd also learned what each member of Favor Trade was good at when it came to jobs. While John himself would bounce around from whatever requests came his way, the girls had all taken to liking certain jobs more than others. Kaguya in particular enjoyed doing guard duty at the local tavern. Curious (and concerned for her safety) John one night, set out to keep an eye on the princess and make sure no harm befell her. What he saw instead as he watched from the outside though, was that Kaguya was doing amazingly well on her own. The night he'd gone there, the patrons were properly behaved, even as they drank and sang some songs, Kaguya herself never once partook in any drinks and it seemed that the sheer presence of her being there was enough to have the men behave themselves. No matter how drunk they got, they never broke out into a fight or caused trouble, instead, they would just marvel at Kaguya while breaking out into song praising her. Any person who did act out (according to the owner when John questioned them) would be softly reprimanded by Kaguya, and yet, that was all she needed to do. She had those people under her thumb, and this made John realize something:

Royalty can be scary.

As for Medicine, she'd actually taken up pest extermination surprisingly. She actually wasn't too fond of rodents or bugs all that much, and because of her mastery over poisons, she was able to kill them quite effectively, making her quite liked by many of the food store owners and farmers around the village. And for Medicine, she actually liked all the praise she had thrown her way such a nice job. To her, the ego stroking was enough of a reward, the food she'd get in return was nothing more than a bonus. Surprisingly, when the month time-limit had been up and Medicine was free to leave, she...never brought it up. John had remembered and was waiting for her to say something...but she never did. Medicine must have come to like the job somewhere along the line, and so John decided to not bring it up, and let the puppet girl continue to enjoy herself.

Kogasa meanwhile had continued her bout of usual surprises. Making food and taking it to kids, cleaning up someone's home when they didn't expect it, and using her blacksmith skills to mend weapons as well as other things like spoons or ladles. She'd been the one to bring home the most actual money, which John was quite thankful for. But even so Kogasa had seemed a bit more...distant, or rather irritated than usual. Ever since Yuuka had shown up, she'd have the occasional frown on her face whenever the flower youkai showed up, or if Yuuka had decided to be a bit more affectionate (Sometimes ranging from hugs to sitting on his lap if she felt so inclined) Kogasa would leave the room or shoot a furious glare at Yuuka.

This didn't go unnoticed by anyone else.

When questioned about it, Kogasa would just grumble, and even John couldn't get an answer out of her, instead Kogasa would demand that he hold her umbrella for a while to keep the sun out of his eyes or spend some one on one time with her. Sometimes, he'd even pet her head for hours on end, to which Kogasa had come to fully enjoy, letting out small sounds of enjoyment while blushing faintly. These shenanigans continued for a while, that is until Final Fantasy XIV had finally gotten it's last update before the release of Stormblood later in the summer.

Patch 3.5: The Far Edge Of Fate had released and with it, the final part of the warring triad as well as the final part of the relic weapon quest, which would allow him to further strengthen his relic weapon, along with Dun Scaith, a new 24-man raid dungeon that would also give out some high end gear, Though John didn't really need it, as the previous tier of Alexander Savage had given him all ilevel 270 gear, so now he just had to upgrade his relic weapons.

And John did just that. It took him a full month or two of serious grinding, he took some small breaks, for food or water (that Kogasa and the others had to remind of many times), but otherwise, John would stay up all night and all day furiously grinding out his relic weapons. It was an interesting quest line, making him go to numerous dungeons to gather 'light' that would make his weapons stronger, as well as personally customizing the stats so that they were the best for that particular class. So serious was his grinding, Kogasa and the others couldn't pull him away, and when asked, John just gave them an answer that he was 'powering up' and after that, the girls could get no more words out of him. The most they could do was make sure he took care of himself with the aforementioned reminding him of eating, drinking, and bathing. Through toil and hard work when mid-April rolled around, John was now ilevel 270 on all his jobs, and at his absolute peak of power until Stormblood arrived in two months later.

With that done, he promptly fell asleep for the first time in literal months. It took five days for John to reclaim the usual energy he had and when he did awake, it was already the afternoon.

"Well well, look whose finally awake. "Yuuka said with a grin "Welcome back to the land of the living darling~." Without warning Yuuka went and planted a chaste kiss on his lips, causing him to wake up a bit more.

"Please stop doing that Yuuka." John sighed "It'll give people the wrong idea."

"You don't seem to be putting up much of a fight though, and besides, isn't it a wife's duty to help her husband greet the new day?"

"But you aren't my wife."

"Not yet!"

"Please stop kissing me."

"Only if you say you hate it."

Silence. John couldn't bring himself to say it, because no matter what he told himself, getting kissed by a pretty woman _was_ very nice. He'd never have something like that happen to him back home, and he wasn't too keen on having it end _just_ yet.

"I'll take that as a no." Yuuka grinned "Anyway, I've taken care of the plants, and everyone else should be doing their jobs right now. The usual spots for them like always."

"Well that's good I guess...maybe I should get a bath..."

"I had a feeling you'd say that, the one out in the back is already warmed."

"We have an outdoor bath now...since when?" John asked with a raised eyebrow

Yuuka once again let out a chuckle "We got it a few days after you went into that little coma. It'll make it so you don't need to walk all the way to the bathhouse all the time."

"Oh...thanks." John said standing up and stretching a bit, his body felt a bit cramped, probably from all the sitting, but a nice hot soak would be be enough to loosen him up nicely. He walked out to the back, where he could see the smoke from the fire used to warm the bath. It seemed nice, but he needed a towel or something to protect his modesty. It's not like they really had a changing room for the office or anything like that, but as if expecting this, Yuuka appeared beside him.

"Here's your towel, now where would you be without me?"

"Thanks Yuuka." John said, ignoring that last bit

"Enjoy your baaaaaath~!" With that, Yuuka walked off to handle who knows what else

Taking a quick look around, John made sure that no one was around so that he could undress without worry. Taking his clothing and setting it near the door, he wrapped the towel around his waist and rounded the corner of the office to the bath. The sight he saw was something that would be etched into his mind forever. Sitting there, in the bath, and splashing some water on herself was Kogasa...who had just turned her eyes and saw him...her body on full display. It was like time stood still as the two stared one another down. John in nothing but a towel, and Kogasa in well...nothing.

"..."

"….."

"…..."

"Uh...hi?" John managed to spit out, this proved to be a mistake as Kogasa's senses finally came back to her.

"J-John! What the hell?!" she screeched

"S-sorry!" John said turning around, "I-I didn't see anything!"

They both knew that was a lie.

"G-get out of here!"

"Yeah, right!"

John quickly retreated into the office redressing himself while his face was completely red from what he saw. That was one hell of a surprise...but he had to admit there was one good thing about seeing Kogasa like that: She was _stacked_ despite her small size.

"Done with your bath already?" Yuuka said popping her head into the room from the door

Immediately John was on his feet with an angry look on his face "What the hell Yuuka? Kogasa was already in the bath!"

"Really…? Oh my, I completely forgot!" She said with a smirk

"I find that somehow hard to believe." John retorted

"Well, it's okay, you got to see something nice right?"

"...Maybe." John said turning his face away

"And that's all that matters! Besides, I'm sure Kogasa isn't too angry!"

"I doubt that."

The two kept talking for a little bit more before Kogasa entered the room, her face still bright red. It was clear that she still wasn't over it, and after a quick glare, Yuuka took that as her sign to leave. She sat down next to John, awkward silence filling the room.

"Look...uh, Kogasa, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine." She said stopping him "That was totally on Yuuka. I don't blame you."

"...Really?" he asked in disbelief. John was dumbfounded by this reaction, he'd seen enough anime in his lifetime, he knew how this usually went. He'd try to explain, the girl would get mad and slap him or something, and then he'd be doing his best to apologize. But this was something he didn't expect…

"Really… I mean it...just um...ask next time?" Kogasa mumbled

"Yeah sure..."

"Good, I've gotta go, I'm gonna give the kids at the school a good surprise!" With that, the girl left John alone to mull over what had all just happened

"Wait WHAT?!" John exclaimed "Did she just…?" He just got up and went outside, he _really_ needed that bath right now, if only to calm down his increasing nerves if anything else. He undressed once more and sunk himself into the warm water, calming his nerves a bit. Seriously, he'd have to talk about Kogasa and have her watch what she said, those kinds of words can invoke dangerous actions in a man who has less self-control. As he sat there thinking up ways on how to bring the topic up, Yuuka poked her head around the corner.

"Oh darling~a client is here for you~!" she said in a singsong voice "She claims to be from that vampire's mansion!"

 _From the mansion_? John thought, what reason could anyone from Remilia's place want with him? He knew he had the invitation to stop by whenever he wanted, but really, John hadn't gone back simply because he either didn't have time or because he didn't want to be reminded of his imprisonment within the mansion some months prior. Still, for someone to come see him again meant that something must be up. He got out of the water, making sure to dry off and redress before heading into the office. Once inside he saw the familiar head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Hello there John." Sakuya said with a curtsy "It is nice to see you again, and on behalf of my lady, I wish you congratulations on your engagement."

Oh goddammit not her too.

With a sigh, John just ignored her and continued on "So tell me, why are you here Sakuya? Is something wrong at the mansion?"

"Well...at the moment, there is no problem, however, if you do not come with me soon, I am afraid that things could get very much out of hand."

"Man, is it really that bad?"

"It will be, and I honestly do not wish to do more repairs. So please come along will you?"

Looking at Yuuka, John gave her a small nod "Let the others know that I'm away doing a request would you?"

"Of course dear, hurry back so you don't miss dinner!" Yuuka said waving

"Stop doing that!" John hollered back as he slammed the door

"Trouble with the wife?" Sakuya asked smirking

"No, and she's _not_ my wife, please don't buy into what she says."

"Well, I did hear that wedding was postponed until you could save up..."

"THAT ISN'T TRUE! Look, let's just go before I lose my mind." John said rubbing his temples

"Very well, follow me." Sakuya said taking to the skies, John followed suit, transforming into his Scholar attire, and following after her. He really had to remember to talk to Patchouli about obtaining flight for his other jobs too, but that could come later after he figured out just what was going on.

The two of them flew towards the mansion at a moderate speed, Sakuya claiming that she didn't want to waste anymore sunlight. Arriving at the mansion the two of them saw Meiling who of course was sleeping at the gate and received a knife to the head to wake her back up.

"Er...is that safe?" John asked as Sakuya walked through the gates without a care in the world

"She'll live." Sakuya replied without turning back to him "Come along now."

Following after her, John was led through the familiar halls of the mansion until he was at the dining room where Remilia sat waiting for him, a small cup of tea in her hand.

"Ah, , a pleasure to see you again. You're quite difficult to get a hold of."

"It's good to see you too Remilia, but Sakuya only came to get me this one time." John said with a chuckle

"Actually, I attempted to contact you several times throughout the last few months, but according to Yuuka, you were too busy increasing your power." Sakuya said plainly "It's because you were so busy that we're in such a dire situation."

"Congratulations on the engagement by the way." Remilia said in between sips of her tea "Truly, I never expected that Kazami woman to end up finding a significant other, let alone a human at that."

"Please...please don't mention that anymore." John said in an exasperated tone

"Hmmm? Very well, it's not important anyway to the current situation."

"Right, so what _is_ this situation that Sakuya was telling me about? It sounds really serious."

At this Remilia sighed, setting down her tea as Sakuya moved to her side, the cup vanished in an instant before Remilia began to explain.

"Well...I don't know how or from whom, but my dear sister has...learned of you."

"You have a sister…?" John asked surprised by the revelation "How come I never met her."

"Lady Flandre is normally within the mansion's basement going about her own business." Sakuya explained

"Wait...the basement? But didn't you tell me that I was never allowed in the basement while I was here?"

"Indeed, that was the case, however, Flandre has specifically requested 'The Favor Man' come and play with her. At first we refused her, but her curiosity has only managed to grow over time, to the point where she's had several tantrums."

"Oh come on, a few tantrums can't be that bad." John deadpanned

"My sister has the ability to cause _explosions with her bare hands_ among the usual powers of a vampire. Do you honestly think her tantrums aren't 'that bad'?"

"Oh dear..."

"Yes, quite. So, the favor I ask of you is to entertain my sister for a while. Do not worry, for she is quite happy to abide by spellcard rules, so your life shouldn't be in danger. However, the stipulation here is that you cannot have the destruction lead out of the basement and into the upper floors."

"Why's that?" John asked

"I really don't want to do anymore repair work...the fairies and goblins can only do so much before losing focus." Sakuya chimed in

"Okay...and what do I get out of trying to not be exploded?"

"We are prepared to pay you a...generous sum for your time, Sakuya if you would?"

The maid is suddenly next to John and in her hand is a rather large sack, which Sakuya opens, showing him the money inside. Which is a _lot_ of money once he gets a proper look at it.

"Really? This much?" John asked "H-how much is even in here?"

"I would say about 2 million yen. This is merely a down payment and you will receive the rest of your money once you have sufficiently entertained Flandre."

"How much do I get after that…?"

"Well, if you keep damage to a minimum and if Flandre feels she has been adequately entertained, then you will receive an additional 8 million yen. A total of 10 million should be fine yes?"

"Uh...yeah! That'll be more than enough actually...so when do I start?"

"If you would be willing, we could send you now. Flandre, is actually awake, albeit still within the mansion's basement."

"I guess I can, I'm officially on the clock now that I'm here anyway."

"Excellent. Sakuya, show him the way would you?"

"At once Milady."

The maid gestured for John to follow her, the young man stowing away the money in his backpack. He was thankful that Patchouli had basically made his backpack able to hold anything, because otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to fit the sack inside of it. He fell into step behind Sakuya, the maid remaining silent as they made their way through the halls, numerous fairy maids stopping to look on, and some of the goblins were busy muttering to each other as the two made their way past them. It took a few turns here and there, but eventually, John and Sakuya were standing in front of a large black wooden door, with a sign that simply read 'DO NOT ENTER IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE.' on it.

"Wow...you guys were serious about this basement..."

"Indeed, now then, as a reminder, you are to engage in play with the young mistress within the confines of the basement _only._ She is not permitted to leave, and if any damages happen outside of the basement, you'll forfeit your payment afterwards." She said this all in an extremely businesslike and professional manner, that all John could do was simply nod at her.

"Oh and one more thing, After about an hour of play, I will bring some refreshments for the both of you. Do try to not be too injured would you?"

"S-sure…"

"Very well, you are on your own from here."

With that, Sakuya opened the door, letting John step through it. It was dark down here and one could barely see anything. So dark was it, that he had to transform into his Black Mage attire and use a fire spell to make a makeshift lantern. It was amazing to see the basement, it was large, huge even. The walls were a lot wider, the roof was so high, John couldn't even see it and there were several cells along the way, all of them empty.

"Forget basement...this seems more like a dungeon or jail than anything else." he muttered as he continued his walk. It wasn't until he'd gotten to the end of the hall that he noticed another black door. This one had a sign on it as well 'Flandre's room, only enter if necessary.'

"Well...guess this is the place..." John muttered to himself as he gripped the lock, pushing the door open. As he stepped inside, he saw a small girl hunched over a broken toy. Sensing his presence she turned towards him, giving John a full view of her. She was young, looking to be no older than 10 or so, wearing a red dress and vest with a pink shirt and pink mob cap as well similar to her sister. On her feet were some plain white socks and brown shoes, nothing too special there. However, what really caught John's attention aside from her terrifying red eyes, would be the multicolored crystals hanging off of her wings. It was almost like John was looking at a set of Christmas lights, and not a part of some girl's body.

"Who are you?" She asked standing up, her eyes showed her curiousness, and yet, even within that curiousness, John could feel a bit of danger? Foreboding? Whatever it was, he could feel some part of his mind telling him to turn tail and run. But he couldn't, he was in way too deep now.

"I'm John Graham...uh, you probably know me as the 'Favor Man' though, who told you about me?"

At the revelation of who John was exactly, Flandre's eyes lit up.

"You're the favor man?! Oh uh...Patchouli kept talking about you, saying you're this amazing guy, so I really wanted to meet you! Oh, I'm Flandre, Flandre Scarlet!"

"Well, hello Flandre, how are you today? I heard you really wanted to meet me?"

"Yeah! I want to play with you John! Come on, can we?"

"I don't see why not."

While Flandre let out a small cheer, John sighed inwardly, he knew what she meant by 'play'. Remilia had made it clear as day that Flandre's idea of 'play' was getting into a fight, and so with resignation, he began to ready himself mentally.

However, what happened surprised him, as Flandre bounded over to a dresser and pulled out a box. With the top showing that...it was a dungeons and dragons board game set?!

"What the...Flandre, where did you get this?!" John exclaimed

"One day, I went into Patchy's library and found this. She said it was a "meaningless fictional depiction of monsters and demons and it wasn't worth reading."

John couldn't help but feel a tad bit insulted at that, as he enjoyed DnD quite a bit (when he wasn't playing FFXIV anyway).

"You like it?" he asked

"Yeah, I sat down and read it and the system seems pretty fun! I want someone to play with me, but my sister is busy, so is Sakuya, Patchouli isn't interested at all, and Meiling spends all day guarding the front gate."

"So that left me then?"

"Well, I could have asked for Marisa, but she's been unable to get into the mansion for a while now, I kinda wish Meiling would just let her in. Still, when I heard about you, you sounded so _interesting_!"

"Oh...well thanks. Come on, we'll roll you up a character and see what happens?"

"Yeah!"

And so the two got to work. Flandre was clearly excited and although she found interest in the game system, the girl couldn't help but make a vampire who was also a princess and was also a max level monk right off the bat. Well, it was just a little one on one game, so having Flan be ridiculously overpowered wasn't such a bad thing, all John had to do was make the encounters equally insane to go against her. Somehow after nearly an hour of playing, Flan had gone on a grand quest to save the tortilla king, fighting several slime spitting owlbears and had successfully infiltrated and blown up an enemy fort. It was quite something, and the sheer insanity of it all brought a smile to his face. The focus the two had on the game was broken up when Sakuya entered the room with a small tray of snacks, and a shocked look on her face.

"Young Mistress...you...what are you two doing?"

"Playing DnD, I just killed a level 13 evil magus of Asmodeus!" Flandre exclaimed happily

"A what…? Er...I see you two haven't been playing Danmaku. Well, that's fine, I've brought some snacks for the both of you.

"Thanks Sakuya...actually, that's a good idea, I wanna play Danmaku with you John, is that okay?"

"Oh uh...sure! I can't really use danmaku myself though." John replied, shooting Sakuya an angry look

"You don't know? Well that's okay, it'll still be fun!" Flan said with a dangerous looking smile

The two of them continued eating, while Sakuya gave John an extremely apologetic look. She realized she'd slipped up and would have to apologize to him later. When she closed the door behind her, Flan finished up the final cookie from the snack cart before turning to John.

"Come on John, show me what the favor man can do!"

"D-do we really have to? What about the game?" John asked meekly

"It can wait till later, I need a good work out! Don't worry, I won't kill you! You're too fun for that!"

"Oh...uh...thanks?"

Though he was somewhat relieved by that, it still didn't squash all the fears he had of going up against Flandre. The small vampire floated into the air, a long black clock needle like object materializing in her hands.

"Come on John, keep me entertained!"

"I was really hoping it didn't have to come to this!"

"I'm starting first! Pandora's Pyxis!"

Like so many fights he'd gotten into, Flandre's use of danmaku was quite the sight. Small shots flew out in a box like pattern as bigger orbs shot towards him. While they were big and took up space, John was still in the perfect position to get off a perfect Fire III (Or better known as Firaga in many other games) with the aid of swiftcast. It felt good to get off a powerful spell like that that without having to worry about any problems.

"Y-yowch! T-that hurt!" Flan whined

"S-sorry?" John called back

"It's okay~! I'll just have to try harder! Ragnarok Nova!"

Another spell card, another wave of danmaku came towards John. This time though, he was forced to move out of the middle as numerous bullets and lasers came his way. It was hard to get a spell off, and the minute he stopped he felt himself pelted by some danmaku, which forced him back to the middle, only, for him to be knocked around some more by attacks coming from the middle.

"You've got to try harder than that John~!" She teased

Feeling a bit annoyed at her tone, John let out a rather sadistic grin "Fine then, what about this? Flare!" raising his staff high, he focused as a large blast of magic erupted directly on top on Flandre, sending the young vampire flying back. So powerful was it, John actually got pushed back a few inches himself.

"Kyah~! Ow! John, that one really hurt, are you _trying_ to kill me?!"

"No, but I guess I shouldn't have used such a strong spell, but hey, you're a vampire, you can take it right?" He replied

"One more slip up like that and I'll get serious!"

To demonstrate her point, Flan, held out her hand and began searching for John's 'eye'. All she had to do was find that and...wait...she couldn't find it. She focused on every part of his body and yet she couldn't find it.

"What...what _are_ you?!" She screamed terrified at what she couldn't find.

"Uh...I'm a human? Not much more to it than that."

"No...that's not true, that isn't true, you don't have an eye..."

"I have two of them!"

"Not those eyes! G-get away, don't come any closer!" Flan said backing away from him

"C-calm down Flan, I'm not gonna eat you or anything." John said moving a bit closer

"T-Taboo! Four of a kind!" Flandre shouted

With those words, the young vampire split herself into three identical copies, There were now four of her and they all rose into the air, hovering slightly before firing off danmaku from all directions. It was hectic (and somewhat blinding) as John did his best to try and dodge the incoming attacks. It was taking all he could to not get seriously hurt, but even so, he was still taking some bad hits all the same, as he outfit became torn and ripped in several areas.

"Flan calm down, CALM DOWN!" he shouted, but this only served to push her into attacking him more. The shots coming out even more erratically than before, which made dodging even more difficult. So wild was she that John couldn't find a safe spot to begin casting a spell...but it was then that he had an idea. All he had to do was keep dodging her for just a little bit longer.

"GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY!" The four Flandres screamed in unison, each of them hurling their black weapons at John

"Tabbo! Lavatein!" They shouted in a haunting chorus as the thrown weapons exploded into more danmaku, the bullets flying every which way, and dodging becoming next to impossible, with that being the case, John had to do the one thing he knew would work...or at least he hoped it would, because if it didn't, he was screwed. He could feel his swiftcast having come off cooldown, and with it, there was one spell he could use that would stop Flan in her tracks.

"I'm sorry I have to do this Flan!" he shouted "Now go the fuck _to sleep_!"

With that, despite the hits he took, with the aid of swiftcast, John was able to instantly cast the sleep spell. In XIV proper, it was a useful early game spell that Black Mages could use to put a target (and later on an entire group) of enemies to sleep for a period of time. Fortunately, the spell worked perfectly on the Flans putting them all to sleep instantly. The clones disappeared as Flandre began to plummet to the ground.

"Oh Crap!" John exclaimed running over to her. His body was in searing pain from all the hits he'd taken from the danmaku, but even so he just barely managed to catch the snoozing vampire in his arms. The spell wouldn't last too long, but already John could feel his consciousness fading. He'd taken way too many hits in that fight. The upside to all of this was that he'd kept the destruction contained in the allowed area, so if he didn't die he'd have a ton of cash to bring home! That singular thought placated him as his vision faded finally.

"Ugh...god...what the hell...I feel like I got hit by a truck." John muttered as he sat up, looking around, he could see that he was in of the mansions guest rooms. It was still just as lavish as always, so much so that John was still in awe of it a bit.

"Ah, you're awake finally." Sakuya said appearing in front of him instantly

"AAAAAAAAAH! S-Sakuya can you _not_?!"

"My apologies, it's just nice to see that you're awake. Your coworkers were getting quite rowdy when they stopped by today."

"What brought them here? It's only been a few hours."

"John...it's been five days."

" _FIVE DAYS_?!"

"Settle down, you're still hurt. The young mistress played a bit _too_ rough with you...and well we found you knocked out. The young mistress seemed...scared of you, too afraid to even try to harm you in your sleep."

"She's still scared…?"

"So it seems, what did you do to her exactly?"

"I'm not even sure. She said she couldn't find 'my eye'."

At this Sakuya raised an eyebrow, clearly interested, but quickly returned to a more neutral expression "I...see, if you are willing, my lady would be quite happy to speak to you. She's been quite concerned about your health...especially with your fiance nearly blowing the door down."

"She's not my-ugh, okay, whatever, let's go."

The two made their way down to the dining room, with Remilia and the other inhabitants of the SDM sitting on one side, while John's allies sat the other. It was a tense stand off, and everyone looked rather uncomfortable. Flandre especially had several cruel glares shot at her from Kogasa, while Yuuka had the same sweet smile on her face, but look at her eyes showed that she was waiting for someone to make a move. Kaguya and Patchouli were staring one another down as if playing some sort of mental mind game. As for Medicine and Meiling...well the two of them were actually talking, albeit rather quietly.

"Hey everybody, sorry to keep you waiting." John said limping into the room. As soon as he did, Kogassa was the first to break her glare on Flan, and run over to him, jumping into his arms and nearly knocking him over.

"John! Are you okay? Did she hurt you? Do you need something eat? Drink? I can go get some water, let me go get some water!" She babbled on

"Kogasa, it's alright...I'm okay. Sorry for being comatose for a few days though...didn't expect that to happen."

"That's my John, always considerate of others. Perhaps I should repay you when we get back home." Yuuka said with a wink, to which Kogasa let out a small hiss

"Hello John, it's quite good to see you up and about." Kaguya said in her same regal tone "I was...most upset to hear that you were hurt...and that you still are for that matter. Perhaps we can have some tea once we return to the village?"

"Hey Boss...you look like crap." Medicine said bluntly "You should go rest some more."

"Let's get out of here first. Come on John lets go." Kogasa said tugging on his arm

"Just a moment." Remilia interrupted "John did as I required and as such, I aim to make sure he receives the rest of his money...plus a bit extra. Think of it as an apology from both my sister and myself, I didn't think things would get that bad...especially involving one with a reputation like yours."

"Oh well...thanks. I appreciate it, I'll put this money to good use!"

As the other members of Favor Trade began pushing John towards the door, the young man quickly broke free of them and moved closer to Flandre, who had her head down in shame the entire time. Feeling bad for the small vampire, John placed a hand on top of her head.

"Hey there Flan...sorry for scaring you. Drop by my office sometime, we'll play another game together alright?"

"You won't hurt me…?" She whimpered

"Nope, scout's honor, I had fun playing doing a little campaign with you, maybe we can rope the others into it. A game is more fun with more than player after all."

"Really…? Could I be like you? A Favor Man? You're not mad at me?"

"But you're a girl. And no, I'm not mad, you didn't do anything wrong. I mean it hurt, but you were scared, If someone scared me, I'd maybe do the same thing."

"A Favor Girl!"

"Heh, that's right! Flandre the Favor Girl!"

"Hmmm, an interesting idea. So John you're saying you'd like for my sister to join you in your work?" Remilia asked with a raised eyebrow

The others all shook their head no (save for Yuuka), but John payed them no mind.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to have her visit every now and then, if she happens to come around when there's work, then she can join in or something like that."

"Splendid! Now then, if there are no other matters to attend to, you may all go. Sakuya, if you would?"

"Of course my lady."

The next moment, the group were all outside the mansion gates, in the middle of the night.

"How rude of them." Kaguya snorted "To so suddenly put us out."

"It's too be expected, we forced our way through the mansion each time." Yuuka sighed

"Yeah, that magician has some nasty spells...thanks a lot Kogasa." Medicine said with a irritated glare at Kogasa

"W-well, I just wanted to make sure John was alright? I mean, not coming back after coming this place? And we didn't get any message from him, what was I suppose to do?"

"She _does_ have a point..." Yuuka said "I can't deny that I was worried about my dear darling John as well."

"Stop calling him that!" Kogasa shouted angrily

"No." Yuuka said simply, sticking her tongue out "Let's go home, it's about time for dinner, I'm cooking~!"

That shut everyone up rather quick. Yuuka was the best cook the group had, and they weren't about to ruin the chance of having a meal made by her. The group all took the sky, leaving the Scarlet Devil Mansion behind.

 _ **Meanwhile at the Scarlet Devil Mansion…**_

Sakuya looked out of one of the few windows as the members of Favor Trade left. Flandre, in her excitement, had rushed off somewhere, claiming she needed 'provisions' for her first day on the job. As such the maid was now alone in the room with her mistress, who quietly sipped some tea.

"Is something the matter Sakuya?" Remilia asked suddenly

"Well...if I must be honest my lady...do you believe it is wise to let the young mistress go along with that man? Letting her out of the mansion at all?"

"I understand your worries, truthfully, I'm a tad bit worried myself. But that young man is interesting no? From what you told me, he has no 'eye'?"

"That's correct...or at least, that's what he claimed the young mistress said."

"Then in that case, it should be fine. You and I both know that Flan can throw quite the tantrum when she's upset. But if there's someone who has no 'eye', she can't simply blow up her problem."

"So...you're saying he'd make a good babysitter…?"

"To be blunt: Yes. Flan has never seen the outside world, save for maybe a few trips to the shrine for a party. It'd be interesting to see how she'll interact with humans."

"But if they see her power and try to attack her?

"Then we simply whisk her away back here. I doubt anyone would be foolhardy enough to lay a finger on her."

"As you say my lady...I just hope you're right...should I keep tabs on them?"

"It never hurts to be too careful, just be discreet about it, make sure you are not seen."

"As you wish my lady."

* * *

 **And there you have it. The next member of the group! It may seem a bit expected, but I've always liked Flandre, and I think it could be fun having her interact with the other members. That said, don't expect Flan to be jumping off the wall crazy and creepy all the time. If I must be frank, I've grown rather tired of that portrayal of her (Just like Yuuka being portrayed as a sadistic monster a lot of the time). That being said, I still want to show that Flan does in fact have some bits of an unhinged mind, such as how quickly she jumped to a danmaku match. I won't blather on any longer, leave any comments and so on, I always love reading them.**


	8. Chapter 8: A Typical Day For Favor Trade

**Yet another chapter. I decided to to put this one out a bit ahead of time than I originally planned. This particular chapter is more of a slice of life chapter, I mean, not every day is gonna be wild for John and the others(mostly)and I wanted to reflect that with this chapter, so it mostly acts as a bit of set up for what other things are set to come. Happy reading!**

* * *

John awoke in a daze. It had been a wild night at Kaguya's home, as tensions had boiled over with Kogasa and Yuuka and the two proceeded to get into a danmaku match. The two of them had gotten into a disagreement over who would share a bed with John that night. While he tried to protest that he wouldn't share it with anyone, that...didn't go over too well with either of them, and a quick glare from them both shut him right up. The danmaku battle only lasted a total of 10 minutes, if even that.

Needless to say Yuuka won that battle with ease.

Now, while that fight had ended and John had figured that Yuuka would (forcibly) sleep in the same bed as him, things seemed to go...differently.

As John sat up, he felt four bodies laying on top of him. Somehow, within the middle of the night, Kogasa,Yuuka, Kaguya, and Medicine had all decided to sleep in the same bed as him. The result of this made that night's sleep a bit 'interesting' so to speak. Or rather...if any of the girls were awake right now, they'd probably a notable poke and that was something he didn't want to go through. So he decided that he would get up quietly and get himself properly dressed.

"Morning darling~." Yuuka said rubbing her eyes.

Well there goes that plan.

"Uh...morning Yuuka." John said trying to hurriedly get up while making sure to keep the others from waking up. "I'm just gonna-"

"Oh no you don't~!" Yuuka whispered getting up just as quickly and wrapping her arms around him in a vice-like grip "You aren't getting out of here without giving me my morning kiss. Although, I get the feeling you'd much rather do something else~" She cooed while looking down at his boxers "Goodness, I'm not regretting that we had you strip."

"Why did you make me do that, while everyone else got to sleep in their normal clothing?"

"John, it's only fair that we girls get a bit of fanservice no?"

"Speaking of that, you don't seem too angry that the others just decided to snuggle up..."

"Oh it's fine, I...well to be honest, just between you and me, I'm just glad we're together." Yuuka said, allowing her teasing demeanor to drop and small pink tint to appear on her cheeks "Please don't tell anyone?"

"Sure, just let me bathe in peace?"

"Of course dear."

With that, John left the room, while Yuuka decided to enjoy the moment of silence. It wouldn't be long until the others woke up, especially Kogasa who had been clinging to the left side of John as he slept. Of course, as if on cue, the umbrella woke up, rubbing her eyes sleepily. It took her a few moments, but she quickly realized that John wasn't around, sending her into a mild panic.

"J-John?! W-where is?!" Kogasa exclaimed

"Calm down dear, John is just taking a bath." Yuuka said with a giggle "Really, you'll get wrinkles if you worry all the time like that."

"Oh shut up." Kogasa growled "Wait, what are the others doing here?"

"I'm here to make sure that neither you nor Yuuka did anything...untoward to John while he slept...though unfortunately, fatigue seems to have beaten me. How regrettable..." Kaguya said with a yawn

"Yeah yeah, you just came in here because the other two were sleeping with him and you felt left out." Medicine said rubbing her eyes as she woke up. Her words, left Kaguya with a faint blush as the princess quickly covered her face with one of her sleeves to hide it.

"T-that is most untrue, I would never stoop to such levels."

"No, but I'm pretty sure you'd do some rather risque things in here with John if we left you alone." Medicine teased

"Y-you're wrong. And what of you then Medicine? Why did you come sleep in here?" Kaguya shot back

"Well I mean, everyone else was in here, I figured why not?"

"Can you guys stop talking about John like that? He's not hat kind of person!" Kogasa spoke up visibly annoyed "He'd never do anything like that!"

"I don't know..." Yuuka said rubbing her chin "He _is_ a healthy young man and I've seen him try to sneak a few looks at you, me, and even the princess a few times."

"You're surprised? All men are pervs." Medicine said casually "I'm pretty sure if the mood was right, he'd push any of you down and well...I'm sure I don't need to say anything more."

"And what of you then? What makes you think he'd not do the same to you?" Kaguya asked blushing harder as she tried to remove the image from her mind.

"Well for one thing, I'm a doll, and the second is that if John tried to get frisky with me like that, I'd give him some very terrible poisons. I know quite a few that could make a man suffer _quite_ a bit."

The silence in the room was tantamount as the other girls let that statement sink in. All the while Medicine had a rather sadistic smile on her face.

"Well...anyway, thank you for letting us use your home as temproray shelter princess." Kogasa said changing the subject.

"It is no problem, I think it's wise that John chose to use the money to renovate the office...don't tell him I said this, but it was a deplorable looking place to look let alone live...surely you and Medicine couldn't have enjoyed it."

"I dunno, I kinda liked it, it had a real homey vibe to it. Sure it was small, but it was still pretty nice having the place all to ourselves"

"Speak for yourself." Medicine said "I'm glad he's fixing the place up. I'll have my own room to sleep in instead of having to share a bed."

"Wait...you share the bed with John?" Kaguya asked

"Nah, Kogasa. John said it wasn't right for him to have me on the floor or something like that, so he usually lets me and Kogasa take it. I don't mind, the girl makes a good pillow."

"Oh uh...thanks?" Kogasa replied awkwardly, she wasn't sure how to respond to that exactly.

"Well, I don't know about you all, but I'm hungry. I'll go prepare us some breakfast." Yuuka said standing up

"Nonsense, allow the servants to take care of that." Kaguya replied "It's their job after all."

"Fine, but I'm supervising them, they don't seem to get the taste of the food just right at all."

With that, the flower youkai left, as everyone else conversed for the time being until John returned from bathing.

"Hey girls, hows everyone doing?"

Words of confirmation about their well-being reverberated throughout the room. John settling down and joining in on the conversation.

"So how long until the renovations are done?" Medicine asked

"Should be about another week or so. I can't wait to see what the place looks like! Nothing like a proper bed right? And that way you and Kogasa won't have to share a bed anymore.

"Yeah, I mean, I didn't mind sharing it with Medicine but..."

"She'd much rather be sharing a bed with you John." Medicine teased, causing both John and Kogasa to turn red "Then again, I'm pretty sure waking up to four woman all sleeping on top of you fulfilled some perverted fantasy of yours."

"T-that's not..." John started

"It's okay if you liked it John, I'm pretty sure _everyone_ here did, right ladies?" Yuuka asked cheerfully

None of them spoke up, not even Medicine, as they all had a small blush on their face. "Goodness, you girls won't get anywhere if you don't admit your feelings~!"

Everyone just ignored her and kept eating, until they heard a ruckus coming from the front. There was screaming going on, though no one could make out the voices from where they currently were.

"What is that...could it be Mokou?" John asked

"No...if it were Mokou she wouldn't have bothered yelling at anyone." Kaguya said plainly "Come, let us investigate this matter."

Following behind Kaguya, John and the others made their way to the front of Kaguya's home. Right out front of the waiting area, there were a few rabbit guards trying to hold back some girl wearing a red scarf. She had red eyes, a white blouse, black skirt, and small black wings and hair.

"Get out of here!" The rabbits shouted

"No way, not until I get the scoop. I know he's hiding out here, so let me just get an interview and I'll be on my way!" the girl exclaimed

"I said get out of here!" I won't say it again!" The rabbit roared

"What is going on here?" Kaguya asked raising her voice slightly so that her presence would be known.

"P-princess! We're sorry, but this tengu won't leave, but we'll remove her shortly."

"Hmmm...you're that tengu who writes that newspaper right?"

"That's me! The Pure and Honest Tengu Reporter Aya Shameimaru! And I've got some information that in good faith, the leader of some place called 'Favor Trade' is here!" Aya exclaimed smiling brightly

"Oh...uh, hi?" John said waving at her awkwardly "What do you want from me exactly?"

"An interview of course! I hear you're an interesting human who not only has some pretty amazing powers, but you've been taming youkai! Not to mention you're betrothed to Yuuka Kazami, a notoriously dangerous youkai."

"I don't like this girl." Yuuka growled "Shall I remove her dear?"

"E-ehehehe, L-lets not get too hasty now!" Aya said trembling slightly as Yuuka began drawing near her, cracking her knuckles threateningly

"Calm down Yuuka." John said holding a hand out to stop her "I think an interview would be fine, I mean, who could it hurt?"

"I dunno, I hear this girl makes up a lot of her stories." Kogasa said "I don't think we should trust her."

"H-hey, I'll have you know, that as a journalist, I value the truth above all else!"

"Suuuure." Medicine replied "So what's the plan John?"

"I mean, I don't mind doing an interview, it could be fun."

"Well okay...but someone should go with you, just in case." Kogasa said stepping forward

"I will go." Kaguya spoke up suddenly "I've always enjoyed reading the tengu's paper. It's quite fun...if you're willing John, I'd like to join you in this interview."

"I don't mind princess, if that's okay with everyone else?"

Everyone nodded, save Kogasa who gave a notable humph, but nodded after a moment as well.

"Great, then let's find a place to sit down and talk yeah?"

"Of course. Follow me, as for you two, can you have someone bring us tea and some snacks?"

"Yes Princess!" the two guards bowed

With that out of the way, Kaguya lead both John and Aya to a small room, the same that had been used when the two first met all those months ago. A few moments after they sat down, some tea and snacks were laid out for them, while Aya pulled out her notepad, ready and eager.

"Alright then, let's jump right into it! So John, you run 'Favor Trade' right?"

"That's correct." John replied

"Okay, and what exactly _is_ Favor Trade?"

"Well, it's exactly what it sounds like, a trading of favors. For doing a favor for someone, they do the same for us. Such as giving us some food or medicine, or some other supplies. Money is fine too."

"Hmmm, I see, and this service is exclusive to only people in the village?"

"I...well, not really I guess? I mean, I've not had anyone from outside the village ask me for anything, except maybe Marisa… or someone from the mansion."

"I see...so if you were to say get some youkai customers who needed a favor, you'd help them?"

"I don't see why not, if it isn't something underhanded I wouldn't be opposed to lending a helping hand."

"That's nice...that's nice indeed. Now who are the members exactly?"

"I'll answer this." Kaguya stated, taking a sip of tea

"The members as of right now, are John, Kogasa, Medicine, Flandre, and myself."

"Wait...Flandre? Flandre Scarlet?! The child from the mansion?!"

"Yes."

"S-she's a member…? W-why her? And...wait, that's not right, you didn't count Yuuka!"

"That's...a bit complicated. Yuuka both is and isn't a member. She mostly stays at the office, acting as well...if I must be honest, a housewife."

"Aha! So John _is_ going to marry Yuuka!"

"N-no!" the both of them yelled back

"Oh~? Then tell me John, who would you marry? Is the Princess on the table?"

"Um well..."

"Actually, you're around quite a few woman, is a more...open relationship going on?"

"W-what do you mean by open?!" John exclaimed

"I mean...that's five women you're around...and there's seven days in the week~!"

"P-please , it's not like that." Kaguya said trying to steer things away from the current topic.

"I see...but would you be against that Princess?"

"Er...well, I suppose not?"

"W-what!? P-P-Princess?!" John exclaimed

"Oh wow, this is great stuff! So you'd totally go for a five-way wedding?"

"I...suppose if all parties were willing..."

"But what of the trials?"

"The trials? Oh, that wouldn't be needed. John has proven himself to much better than any of the other men who tried to court me. Not many would go to face Yuuka Kazami or go to a field of poisonous flowers just to help me, and I'm sure I do not need to mention the young mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"

At this Aya nodded and eagerly continued writing "Yeah, yeah I get ya, I've gotten into that place myself and that vampire isn't someone I want to deal with again. I'm glad she's not here right now though..."

As if on cue, there was a loud crash as the wall of the room the three were in was destroyed, Flandre standing there with a smile on her face.

"John! Princess! And...oh I remember you, the bird woman who played with me!" She said noticing Aya

"Oh, hey Flan." John said casually, not paying mind to the wreckage

"How do you do?" Kaguya greeted, just as casually

It was Aya who had the most realistic reaction "W-why is she here?! And why did she break down the wall...and why do you two seem so relaxed?!"

"That's just how Flan is." John replied

It was true. Shortly after John had allowed her to join the group Flandre had shown up a day later...by crashing through the window. The small vampire told him that she'd only be able to show up on cloudy days, and she'd broken the window as a means of making a 'dynamic' entry. Of course, John had to wonder if she'd picked up on some things from Might Guy, but pretty soon, he became used to it as she continually kept breaking the windows on the days she showed up. Truthfully, Flandre's arrivals were part of the reason he decided to even renovate the office at all. The little vampire had quite the penchant for breaking things and he was lucky she didn't wreck his laptop.

"I-I-I see...w-well um, shall we continue with the interview then?" Aya asked, though she was slowly inching away, just in case she needed to make a quick escape.

"Sure, what's the next question?"

"Hmmm, well how about a story of your exploits, what has been your greatest adventure?"

"My greatest adventure…? Well...that'd have to be the adventures I had while in Ishgard."

"...Ishgard?" Kaguya asked "I don't think I've ever heard of that place."

With that John went into detail about the general plot of the Heavensward expansion, and how he'd been framed for killing the sultana of Ul'Dah. Kaguya, Aya, and even Flan were so enraptured they clung to his every word. However, there was one thing that John felt a bit strange. As he recounted these exploits, it felt...real. Too real. His heartbeat picked up speed as he recalled fighting through Sohm Al, which was infested with deadly dragons. How he and Estinien went up against Nidhogg in The Aery...and how Haurchefaunt...one of the best friends he'd ever had lost his life in The Vault. That particular mention actually had John shed tears. The pain was so evident, even Aya tried comforting him.

"Er...on that note, I think I'll end the interview here. Um...try to cheer up okay? The paper will be released soon!" Aya said flying off at breakneck speeds, partly to get away from Flan and partly because she felt a bit guilty for dredging up what seemed to be a rather painful memory.

"John...are you okay?" Flandre asked with a sad look

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine...I don't know what came over me. I'm...gonna go for a walk." He said standing up to leave

The two girls could only sit and watch as he walked off. "To think that he carried such burdens on his shoulders. Flandre, I suspect we've seen a small glimpse of John's life that he'd rather forget if possible. We shouldn't speak of this to anyone else."

Flandre merely nodded in agreement, the vampire at a loss for words. She didn't think she'd ever see John _that_ sad, especially with them having only just met.

Meanwhile, John was taking a walk around the area. While he had been initially sad beyond belief, he'd managed to get his emotions under control, but even so, he found himself wiping away a tear or two. Why did he have such an emotional outburst at the mention of Haurchefaunt? Why did his heart feel like it had been ripped in two? He tried thinking of other things that had happened in the game, and the more he felt an array of different emotions. From happiness, to fright, to sadness, to moments he wanted to laugh (which was thanks to the Hildebrand questline). Still, at the end of it all he couldn't draw a proper conclusion as to why he suddenly felt like this and so he simply groaned in annoyance.

"Is everything alright John?" Came the voice of Kogasa

"Huh…? Oh Kogasa, yeah...everything is fine. The interview just left me slightly irritated is all."

"I've heard the same from a few people who have talked to that tengu before...but what did she say?"

"Well...it's not so much what she said, but rather...I ended up stirring up some bad memories as I was telling a story, I gotta say looking back at it, I probably looked like a fool in front of Flan and Kaguya."

"Well, whatever happened, I'm sure they won't mind. But...if you mind my asking, what exactly happened?"

And so John recounted what led up to his small breakdown, with Kogasa giving him a hug afterwards "It's okay John...I'm sorry about your friend, but I'm sure the others won't think any less of you! But...hmmmm, I think I know a way to help, why not go talk to Byakuren? She's usually good at making people feel better!"

"Byakuren…?" John asked with a raised eyebrow

"She runs Myouren temple, it's a great place that's pretty friendly towards youkai and humans. Come on, let's go!" Kogasa said pulling him by the arm

"Wait, what about the others?" John said trying to stop her

A resounding 'boom' was heard as Yuuka numerous bunny guards screamed and the voice of Yuuka could be heard "Oh Flan~, it's not nice to break someone else's home...especially when I'm using the kitchen!"

Another boom could heard as Danmaku bullets sprayed from the roof, which had John give Kogasa a look of bewilderment, who returned it in kind.

"So, next stop Myouren temple?"

"Yes, let's get going!"

With that, the two of them sped away, avoiding the cataclysmic conflict that was about to unfold in Kaguya's home.

The two of them flew towards the Myouren Temple, which thankfully wasn't too far away from the village. In fact, it was only a half-hour away, which was quite convenient really, though as the two flew Kogasa told him that it was Buddhist temple, so John figured that them being so close was for the sake of followers more than anything. The two touched down at the top of the stairs leading up toward the temple, only to see a small girl wearing a long pink shirt with teal-flowered buttons and white skirt with black trim who was busy sweeping the courtyard.

"Oh it's Kyouko, hey there Kyouko!"

"Hey there Kyouko~!" The girl shouted back with a grin

John just gave Kogasa a confused stare at what had just happened.

"She's a yamabiko." Kogasa said plainly

"A...what?" John replied still confused

"She just likes to echo things sometimes, don't mind her. Anyway, Kyouko, is Hijiri in today?"

"Yes, she's just doing some light meditation, so it shouldn't be a problem if the two of you visit."

"Great, could you go get her for us? I think she'd like to meet John."

With a nod, the yamabiko scampered off to fetch her master, leaving John and Kogasa to chat for a small while before a woman wearing a black and white dress with long strips of black going across the middle. She had an...interesting hair color...or rather colors. Her hair started out purple at the top, but near the end it was a more brown color, giving it a gradient look. It was certainly eye-catching to say the least. The woman smiled warmly at John and Kogasa, giving a small bow.

"It's nice to see you again Kogasa...and this is the friend you told me about…? The one running that favor business?"

"This is him Hijiri. Meet John Graham." Kogasa said probably

"Hey there ." John said extending his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise I am Byakuren Hijiri, come in, let us have some tea as we talk."

"Do you have lemonade…?"

"What's that…?"

"...Nevermind."

The three made their way through Hijiri's home, until they were in a small room. It looked as if it were used for meetings or the like, as it felt a bit more proper with several tapestries with various sayings on them.

As the tea was sat down in front of them by a nun-looking woman, Hijiri began to speak. "So tell me -"

"Please, just call me John."

"I see...So then, John, what brought you here today?"

"Oh well Kogasa mentioned you and-

 _ **BOOM**_

A loud thunderous sound echoed throughout Gensokyo, the three went outside to look smoke billowing up into the sky, and judging from the direction, John knew where that was coming from.

"...And well...we wanted to get away from _that_ as well."

Byakuren gave him an incredulous look as the three returned inside "So...what is that exactly?"

"Playtime with Flandre and Yuuka." Kogasa shuddered "Trust me Hijiri, you _don't_ want to be around that."

"That seems...far too destructive for mere 'playtime'."

"It could be much worse." John chimed in taking a sip of tea "I've had experience firsthand and that little boom is just child's play really."

Hijiri let out a nervous chuckle, but decided to change the subject. "So John, I've heard that you're allowing youkai to work with you at your business?"

"Yeah, Kogasa has been with me since the start of it all, she's been really great to me. She's the best umbrella a guy could ask for." John said patting her head

"J-jeez...um...thanks." Kogasa said with a blush, which caused Byakuren to chuckle at the display

"I see, I think it's wonderful that you're allowing youkai to work with you, but I must say, from what Kogasa tells me you've never gone to ask any of the youkai if they have troubles they need help with?"

"Well...it's not like I really can, I mean, I'm situated in the village, and I have no idea where they are, and then there are the ones who try to kill me..."

"But you're more than capable of defending yourself."

"True, but still, you don't wanna be on the receiving end of someone like Medicine, she's got some really nasty poisons at her disposal."

"I see...but if you could help out some youkai you would?"

"I would, you know it's funny, some crow girl asked the same sort of question not that long ago."

"Well, I suppose it is nice that you're at the very least willing to listen to the pleas of youkai...not many would go that far."

"I can understand the fear many have for them, but some of the people who've helped me the most since coming here have been youkai, so I can't really discriminate." John replied with a chuckle

The three continued their talks for a while, enjoying the company of one another as they learned about one another. It turned out that Byakuren was a monk which made John somewhat delighted as he mentioned he was kind of a monk himself.

"Oh my, you follow the teachings of Budda? Why didn't you say so?" Byakuren exclaimed lighting up at this revelation.

"Uh...well it's not Buddhism exactly. I don't think you'd really like the teachings of brotherhood I learned from."

"Hmmm…it's not Buddhism? I wouldn't mind learning about it all the same, perhaps I could learn something interesting!"

"You really wouldn't like it. The name of the patron god for my brotherhood is Rhalgr the Destroyer."

"...The Destroyer?" Byakuren asked with a nervous smile "That...sounds rather dangerous."

"That's putting it lightly. My mentor tried to kill me so he could get stronger." John replied casually, only to met with both women looking at him with wide eyes

"Uh...you sound just a _bit_ too comfortable with that John." Kogasa said with a nervous giggle

"Oh that isn't even the worse thing. One time I was eaten alive by a three-headed dog. You should have seen what I had to fight to get out of that one."

Once more the women looked at him in stark disbelief. "C-come on John, enough with the jokes. What's next? You killed a god?"

"Several actually...At least, they're very close to gods anyway."

"I-I see...you seem to have quite the adventurous life..." Byakuren said with another nervous chuckle "But er...please don't antagonize the gods within Gensokyo would you?"

At this John raised an eyebrow in interest "There are gods here?"

"Oh yes, many. A couple are living on youkai mountain, though, I would advise against going there. Not only are there dangerous youkai living there, but there's also the tengu you'd have to worry about, and they're none too fond of outsiders. Even the Hakurei shrine maiden has some issues getting through there."

"Why all the hostility? Surely they wouldn't mind if someone were just passing through right?"

Byakuren brought her hand to her chin in a thinking gesture "I suppose not, but even so, they're quite territorial, so you may be better just waiting for Sanae to appear in the village and then going with her. She's allowed free passage through tengu territory since her shrine sits on the mountain."

"Huh...I'll keep that in mind. What's this Sanae girl look like?"

"Green hair, wears a blue and white shrine maiden outfit and has a snake ornament in her hair." Kogasa answered flatly

"Sounds like you don't like her that much..."John said

"She takes the youkai extermination thing a bit too seriously." She replied "She tried to kill me once because I was trying to scare people!"

"Why'd she jump to such an extreme solution?"

"I don't know! I scare people, not kill them!"

"Don't worry, Sanae is generally an amicable person." Byakuren interrupted calmly "It goes without saying that you're an outsider, so in that respect, perhaps you and her would find some common ground to get along?"

"She's from the outside too…?"

"Indeed. She's been here for several years now I think, but...now that I think a bit more, you sound as if you're from quite a far away place...so I'm not sure how much you'd be able to talk about.

"Oh don't worry, I'm from America, even if she's from Japan, I'm sure there's much we can talk about still."

Pretty soon, John and Kogasa departed, deciding to spend some time in town. They were originally going to head back to Kaguya's home, but all it took was another loud explosion and the manic laughter that echoed throughout after for them to decide that it was best that they didn't head back right now. Still, they were both surprised that Yuuka and Flan could keep things up for so many hours without getting tired at all. There was nothing much of note happening in the village, just the people greeting them as usual and wishing John well in his future wedding to Yuuka (He'd given up on trying to correct people) and things of that nature. Before long, the day had become night, and Yuuka and Flan had _finally_ finished up their little game, allowing the two to return to Kaguya's home, although the place looked really beat up, in fact part of it was actually destroyed.

"Where the hell have you two been!?" Medicine roared upon their arrival

"Uh...around?" John replied sheepishly

"If you're gonna run off, at least take me next time, those two are insane!"

"Heh, sorry Medicine." John said patting her head instinctively, which Medicine swiped away at

"Sorry, no amount of head-patting is going to fix this!"

"Yelling won't either." Came the exasperated voice of Eirin "John, I understand that you and the others are the princess's guests, but if Kazami and that vampire cause so much damage again, I won't hesitate to put you and your employees out of here."

"Would that include me too Eirin?" Kaguya said with a grin

"Tch...no princess...I would never do that. Though, where were you during the fighting? You disappeared shortly after they began."

"Oh I was just watching from a safe distance. Yuuka and Flan put on quite the show. I'd say they rival Mokou and I when we go all out."

A small bead of sweat ran do Eirin's head as she heard those words "I-I see...well, the repairs should be done soon enough...well, enough to make the rooms somewhat decent. Shall we have dinner soon then?"

"Splendid!"Kaguya exclaimed clapping her hands together, come everyone, let's go eat."

"What about Yuuka and Flandre?" Kogasa asked

"They're all tuckered out I'm sure."

Sure enough, in one of the less damaged rooms, Yuuka and Flandre lay cuddled up together, sleeping soundly from their day of wanton destruction. The rest of the night passing without incident, though the two were a bit upset the following morning that they missed out on the food.

 _ **The Next Morning at Hakurei Shrine…**_

It was another boring morning for Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden had been so terribly bored the past few months. There had been no incidents, nothing of interest, and worst of all no donations or worshipers had come to her shrine at all. To put it bluntly, the shrine maiden was mildly frustrated at the entire thing. It was then, that two things occurred: One being that Marisa had just appeared at her doorstep. That wasn't anything especially new. The second was that Aya had just zoomed by, leaving a newspaper at her feet.

"Hey Reimu, how ya doin'?" Marisa asked cheerfully

"Fine...well, as fine as I could be. I wish Aya would stop dropping these things off, there's never anything interesting in them."

"Oh come on now Reimu, there's no need to be like that, at the very least her paper has some funny things in it." Marisa said taking the paper and opening it to the front page to see the headline

EXCLUSIVE: AN IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH THE OWNER OF FAVOR TRADE. A FULL 3 PAGE. INCLUDES A SHOCKING REVELATION BY PRINCESS KAGUYA

"What in the..." Marisa muttered looking at the headline she began reading and pretty soon she let out a loud yell at what she'd read.

"W-what's wrong?!" Reimu asked snatching the paper from her

"T-that John guy. He's planning on marrying Kaguya _and_ the other members of his little business!"

"S-so what? What's the big deal?"

"C'mon Reimu think about it: A _human_ marrying Yuuka? Doesn't that sound off to you? I think they're up to something. It's an incident I'm telling ya!"

"Well...you may be right. Yuuka doesn't seem like the type to settle down...let alone with a human. Not to mention how much destruction she could possibly cause."

"Yeah...and he's got Flandre as a member now too." Marisa muttered grimly as she looked through the paper

"What?! Okay, now I _know_ this guy is up to something. Flandre? Of all people to have hanging around with him?"

"So what's the plan Reimu?"

"We're heading to the vampire first. Let's see what information we can get out of Remilia."

 _ **Meanwhile in Former Hell…**_

Another night of drinking, and another day of partying. That was Satori Komeiji had to put up with frequently. Living underground with all the other youkai wasn't so bad, but sometimes the drinking parties got really _out_ of hand. Today was no different, as many of the oni were still partying hard, even thought they'd started last night.

"I truly need a vacation." Satori groaned as she rubbed her head in annoyance. She'd barely gotten any sleep last night after all. It was then that one of her faithful pets, a rather large black dog had come bounding towards her with a newspaper in its mouth. Truthfully, Satori didn't care much for the Bunbunmaru newspaper and could usually tell when something was quite outlandish. Still, she opened it this time to see the headline, and intrigued by it, continued reading. She cared little for the bits of this 'John' person possibly ending up in a big marriage, or in how his business operated...until she saw one particular line of text that caught her interest: _"The proprietor of Favor Trade, John Graham has gone on to state that he wouldn't mind taking youkai requests if anyone stopped by to ask."_

And just like that, Satori had a wide smile on her face...looks like she just found the ticket to her vacation.

 _ **At Hakugyokurou…**_

Yuyuko Saigyouji had been growing a tad concerned. While the usual playful ghost would normally enjoy her time, eating tons of food. She'd seen something that had made her a bit uneasy. The night before she'd been enjoying her 25th helping of food. When the 26th didn't come, she had peeked in the kitchen to see Youmu Konpaku, her most loyal servant sleeping on the floor. The poor girl seemed to have been overworked most likely from a combination of her gardening, training, and keeping Yuyuko fed, which Yuyuko could only blame herself for. As much as she would prank and teaseYoumu, she did not enjoy the idea of her collapsing from work, which would make Yuyuko partly to blame.

Breaking her out of her thoughts was the small plop of a newspaper landing at her feet. Looking to clear her mind if only for a moment Yuyuko opened it and read the article.

"Interesting...this could be just what Youmu needs...a few extra hands to help around for a while would be perfect." she said with a grin "Don't you worry Youmu, I'll make everything better!" she giggled to herself

 _ **Mayohiga…**_

The beginning of spring had finally come along and Yukari Yakumo was finally awake. She very much enjoyed taking long naps and after her previous venture she needed it. She had decided to try her hand at gaping her way into some of the fictional worlds that resided out there. If only for her to have some fun toying with the inhabitants. This had proven to be a terrible idea on her part as she ended up humiliated and out-manipulated by a man dressed as a bat. The entire ordeal had really dealt a blow to Yukari's pride and she vowed to _never_ return to Gotham City again so long as she could help it. Shortly after that, she'd returned back to Gensokyo and opted to go sleep straight away, not bothering to answer Ran about what all had occurred (she really didn't want to talk about it). Now that her months long hibernation was over she could wake up refreshed and without a care in the world.

Or so she thought.

Her shikigami, Ran had greeted her upon her waking up, having already prepared a fresh meal for her, which Yukari was eternally thankful for (though she'd never say it openly). It was when Ran placed the Bunbunmaru newspaper in front of her that her she was met with startling news.

"So Yukari-sama...what exactly are you planning?" Ran asked

"What do you mean Ran? I've been asleep this entire time." Yukari replied as she sleepily took a bite of her food

"Look at the paper, that headline."

"Yukari lazily looked at it, her eyes getting wider as she read on."

"What in the world _is_ this? That Tengu is fabricating a story as usual isn't she?"

"Uh...wouldn't you know Yukari-Sama? I don't mean to be rude, but something like this is right up your territory? I've seen that human in passing a few times within the human village. He's definitely an outsider, from his face, he's from that America place you've told me about. Didn't you bring him here?

"No I didn't. Ran, I have nothing to do with this. And that human couldn't have possibly come through the barrier of his own volition. There's no way he could get through it if he really is from the west like you say."

"So what you're saying is that someone else brought him here?"

"Yes...and I intend to find out who. Spiriting humans away is my shtick I'll have you know!" Yukari shouted triumphantly

"Somehow, I have a feeling your more concerned about the wrong thing..."

"I think it's time I pay this John Graham a visit~." Yukari said with a wicked grin

* * *

 **Ah yes, I've been waiting to do this for a long time. You see, something I've noticed about the Touhou series and the fandom(and I guess the official works to some degree as well) is that Yukari is always _always_ portrayed as this ingenious mastermind who has plans upon plans upon plans. A woman who has plans A-Z all mapped out in her mind and that no matter what, no matter what happens Yukari always wins out in some way. The entire universe could be imploding on itself and Yukari would survive because she had some convoluted master plan she set up 8500 years ago with Martians for the 45th dimension. My point here is that I think it'll be good to in some way give her a bit of a wake-up call as it were, and who else to do that than everyone's favorite dark knight...and whoever else it is that brought John to Gensokyo. It's funny, originally, I was going to have it be Yukari, but that felt too predictable. I think that was a better idea in the long run. Anyways, enough ranting from me, thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9: The Black Horseman

**Man oh man, it has been a while _hasn't_ it? I'm sorry that things took so long. But there's been a LOT of stuff going on IRL since the last chapter. One of which was me proposing to my girlfriend(now fiance!) as well as my job which has me working nights, so I have a lot of times where I'm simply too tired to write. Along with some new video game releases, several bouts of laziness and some other writing projects I work on, this got pushed back. That being said though, even if I move a bit slow, the chapters will come. With that being said, let me move on to some of the comments I feel the need to reply to.**

 **Hatman2000: Hey now, just because I disappear for a while doesn't mean my stories are dead! They only are if I _say_ they are.**

 **Guest #1: I wish you had a name, but don't worry, John will bust out some more of his magic classes down the line. Don't you worry.**

 **Guest #2: Sorry if you dislike the idea of John being able to switch classes/jobs. But the fact of the matter is that being able to do something like that is a key feature of Final Fantasy XIV. I feel it'd be an insult if I didn't include something like that.**

* * *

It'd been some time since John had returned to the office. What was once a little shack was now an actual three-story home, with the first floor acting as an office space, while the other two floors would be used for housing the residences of Favor Trade. Originally, it was going to be so big, but once the office renovations had been completed originally, Kaguya saw it and proclaimed that it 'was too small' for someone like John. So, digging into her coffers (and using her royal charms) Kaguya was able to convince the workers of the village to add on another floor as well as a few choice additions of her own. Namely, she had them dig out some bit of ground in the back that could be used for bathing. It took a bit of doing, but the workers managed to make it so the water would flow out naturally and head to the river.

"I gotta say, this is great." John said looking over the new office space "The village carpenters did a great job."

"I agree. This will make a wonderful place to raise our children." Yuuka said with a playful smile

"Get your hands off him!" Kogasa growled getting in-between the two of them "John's not having any kids!"

"Really? Not even by you?" Yuuka teased

This caused the umbrella to clam up a bit as Kaguya stepped forward "Come now ladies, we can talk about such things once we're inside."

Ever since Aya had released that paper with the information stating that John was going to marry all the females that worked with him (This included Flan, which Remilia was actually okay with) Kaguya had gone alone with it, citing that many men in ages past has numerous wives or mistresses. Yuuka had latched onto the idea and immediately began making jokes and innuendos, while Kogasa seemed staunchly against the idea...or at least she acted that way. Medicine, just rolled her eyes and continued with minding her business, and Flandre had decided that it'd be a good idea as it'd only serve to strengthen the Scarlet family name. When John had asked her how Remilia would take such a thing (as an attempt to try and ruin her plan) the small vampire flew off to the mansion and returned the next day claiming that her sister had agreed.

"Look, let's forget about that for now and just get accustomed to the place okay? John said with an exasperated sigh

"Very well. I'll go make us some food." Yuuka giggled heading towards the kitchen area

It was already noon, so a good lunch would be great as everyone got settled. John had decided that at least for today, he could have Favor Trade be closed. There really shouldn't be anything that immediately needed their attention. The only real problem he could think of is that the people who hung out at the tavern would most likely be upset that Kaguya wasn't going to be there tonight. As the group settled down in their chairs and eagerly awaited their food, there was a sudden knock at the door. Well 'knock' was being generous, it was more along the lines of someone banging on the door as if they were the police.

"Open up!" said a voice from behind the door, looking confused, John got out of his chair and headed towards the door opening it

"Look, I'm not sure if you're aware, but we're closed for today and-"

"Quiet, I've got questions for you!" the girl said

Looking at her she was wearing a red and white shrine maiden outfit. While the main part of her outfit was red, the sleeves and socks she were white. The ribbon used to tie her hair was a pretty red as well and the only thing that really stood out were the brown shoes she wore. She was actually kinda cute even with the frown on her face.

"I'm sorry but who are you?"

"Reimu Hakurei, now let me inside."

"Me too ze!" Marisa said appearing from behind her

"Hell no." John replied instantly

"Don't worry, she's with me." Reimu said

"Will you promise me she won't steal anything?"

At this Reimu sighed, she was all too familiar with Marisa's other 'activity' so to speak and she could sympathize with John's plight in that regard.

"She won't touch a thing. I promise."

With that John let the girls inside as his friends all looked over to see who it was that had entered the office.

"Oh my, the Hakurei shrine maiden. What brings you here?" Kaguya asked with a small giggle

"I'm here because of _this_ guy." Reimu said jerking her thumb towards John "I'd have come sooner, but I get the feeling I was none too welcome at Eientei."

At this John turned to Kaguya who looked away as if she had no idea what Reimu meant "Kaguya...what did you do?" John asked

"Oh nothing...I just...waylaid the shrine maiden for a bit while we waited for your office to be completed."

"Why…?"

"Johh, I've dealt with the shrine maiden before...to say that she takes a rather 'caviler' attitude to acquiring information is to put it lightly."

"What do you mean by caviler?" John asked with a raised eyebrow

"She'll beat you up." Kogasa sighed

"She'll beat you up badly." Medicine said in agreement

"But it's really fun to play with her!" Flandre said smiling brightly "And the same for Marisa too! Oh, let's play right now!"

"E-Er, not right now Flan, I gotta help Reimu collect info!" Marisa said nervously

"Right, and if you're all done, I want to know what you're planning." Reimu cut in

"Uh...planning?" John asked

"You're fixing to cause an incident aren't you? Just come clean now so I can go home and sleep peacefully."

"The only incident John is planning is the happy little incident of five or so kids running around our home." Yuuka said walking into the room and placing some food and drinks on the table.

"I find that quite hard to believe with _you_ of all people." Marisa said tugging at her hat "Just come clean already, what are you after?"

"Nothing. Just running a good business." John said heading to the table "You guys want anything?"

"No thanks." Reimu said waving her hand

"I'm good too." Marisa said

"So you're telling me I'm supposed to believe that you're running a business with an umbrella youkai, a doll that has tried to poison humans on more than several occasions, the young vampire of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the princess of Eientei, and Yuuka Kizami, a very infamous youkai in her own right?" Reimu said, sarcasm oozing out of her voice

"Yeah that's the gist of it." John replied casually "I haven't done anything wrong. I help the villagers, they give me something, simple as that."

"And are you really planning to marry all the girls here? Even Flan?"

"Whoa, hold up, he's not marrying _me."_ Medicine said throwing her hands up

John could only silently thank Medicine.

"He's marrying all of _them._ " She said motioning to the other women in the room

John could only silently curse Medicine.

"I-I'm not marrying anyone! At least not yet!"

"So you're marrying them at _some_ point in your life then?" Marisa teased with a smirk

"The's the general plan." Kaguya said casually "It will take some proper planning and no small amount of money, but when the time is right a wedding would be ideal."

"Kaguya please stop planning this out!" John protested

"Nonsense, as a future wife it is my duty to handle such matters."

John could only sigh at this, when it came to this particular topic, he was pretty much beaten, only Kogasa would (weakly) protest alongside him. A part of him was close to simply going along with the ride.

"That's all well and good, but just how did you get all of these figures in your home, coexisting and not trying to kill each other?" Reimu asked

"He tamed us." Yuuka said calmly "What can I say, my future husband is...quite the man when he needs to be."

At this the entire room went silent...except for Medicine who was laughing her ass off

"I get it." Reimu sighed "You're no threat. You're just a philanderer."

"I am not!" John cried

"Look, I don't care who or how many women you sleep with, just don't cause any trouble. I got my eye on you. Come on Marisa, let's head back to the shrine."

"You sure? Anything else you wanna ask?"

"Nope. I don't care about some guy who has a thing for youkai women."

"I'll have you know I'm still human." Kaguya retorted

"Yeah whatever, later I guess...but you said you take requests from the villagers right?"

"That's right. We're closed today though." John said

"I see...so if I had something that needed to be done?"

"Come tomorrow."

With a small nod, Reimu and Marisa left, leaving John perplexed as to what had just happened.

"I wonder what that was all about?" He muttered

"Now that I think on it. My sister did mention that Reimu and Marisa had stopped by a couple days ago." Flandre said downing some food "It was weird, she said they asked all sorts of questions, like if you were secretly a youkai or something."

"Do I look like one?" John asked with a deadpan stare

"You certainly don't _smell_ like one." Flandre said "But I guess with the powers you have, some would certainly think you _aren't_ human."

"Come on, it's not as crazy as anything you all could do."

"John, you can transform into a knight, a mage, and whatever that was you used at Yuuka's garden, and who knows what else. I'm not surprised someone jumped to you being a youkai." Kogasa said in a matter-of-fact tone "To be quite honest, I thought you _were_ a youkai for a little while."

"Well, what gave it away that I wasn't?"

"The way you act? Not a lot of youkai act the way you do. You're...way too...uh...well..."

"Nice." Medicine said bluntly "You're a lot nicer than even some of the _humans_ here."

"I don't get it." John said perplexed

"John...when we first met, what did I try to do?"

"Uh...kill me?"

"Yes, exactly. I tried to kill you. I wasn't holding back, I was going to go through with it John and what exactly are we doing now?"

"Er...eating breakfast?"

"Yes. _Exactly_. That's just it: under normal circumstances, this wouldn't happen. That Hakurei has been known to allow youkai at drinking parties, and to visit the shrine even, but actually living with them? Treating them like a family? Planning to _start a family_ with some of them down the line? John, you're a weirdo, plain and simple."

"I'm...sorry?"

"Don't be...it's actually kinda...nice." Medicine said with a small blush "Most people aren't willing to go that far. So in that respect, you're better than many humans I've met."

John couldn't do much, but bashfully rub his head and give thanks. The day went by with relative ease and without much interruption. The night was about the same as usual with all the girls (sans Medicine and Flandre) trying to get into John's bed. Medicine very much was happy to have her own bed and so didn't join on the dogpile in John's room and Flan had to be back at the mansion. Soon enough, the group all drifted off to sleep, their dreams being quite pleasant.

 **The Forest of Magic...**

Marisa had been busy minding her business in the forest of magic. Though it was night, she was gathering up some mushrooms that she could use for later in some magic experiments.

"This one should be good..." She muttered to herself picking up a pink colored mushroom "And so should this one..."

As the witch continued her harvesting, she felt something weird about the forest. Well, weirder than usual. There was a kind of mist that began to settle within the area. It wasn't something she'd seen before. Sure, there had been misty mornings and evenings in the forest before, but this particular mist had a very distinct tinge of weirdness to it that she couldn't place.

"What the hell is going on..." Marisa muttered looking around "The forest ain't never been like this."

Then as if answering her question, Marisa saw something she'd never seen before. A...man...no it wasn't a man, she could feel something _off_ about this person. This person...no, this thing that she was seeing was clad in pure black armor. He rode atop a large black horse and the only source of light came from the two white eyes that felt as if it were piercing into Marisa's soul.

"W-who are you?!" Marisa exclaimed getting into a combat stance

The person said nothing instead lunging at her and taking a swipe with his blade, from the lack of danmaku, Marisa could tell this guy was seriously out for her life.

"Okay then, you don't wanna talk? Then I'm going full power right outta the gate!" Marisa said whipping out her Mini-Hakkero

"Final Spark!" Marisa shouted blasting the mysterious figure with a full powered master spark. A full minute passed by as Marisa poured all of her power into the attack, dust and debris being kicked up from it.

When she thought he'd had enough, Marisa finally stopped pouring power into the attack. However, what she saw made her mouth gape. The armored figure had held up his shield managing to block most of her attack, smoke billowing off it as he glared at her.

"Oh crap..." Marisa said before dodging another lunge from the enemy

"What the hell are you?!" Marisa exclaimed dodging still, yet her words were met with no answers, only more attacks.

"Dammit, I gotta get outta here. I gotta get Reimu." Marisa muttered getting on her broom "This ain't over whoever you are!" With that she flew off towards the shrine, the mystery man simply watching as she retreated.

"Okay...let me get this straight, you're saying you saw some weirdo in black armor in the dead of night?" Reimu asked in an annoyed tone, she'd been sleeping soundly until Marisa came loudly knocking on her door

"Yeah! I don't know who he is! But he managed to block my final spark without a problem."

"You sure it isn't just some youkai?"

"Reimu, if it were a youkai, then it wouldn't have survived that attack, or at least, it'd have been badly hurt." Marisa said with a sigh "I don't know if regular danmaku attacks will work on it."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"What do you mean?! We're gonna go kick that thing's ass!"

Reimu sighed again, she really wasn't in the mood for this kind of thing. It was probably some youkai that was stronger than usual and Marisa bit off more than she could chew. It was then that she had an idea.

"Nah we're not gonna do that." Reimu said smiling

"What do you mean we aren't?! We gotta get rid of that thing before it targets someone else!"

"Look, it's probably a youkai and frankly, I don't feel like going out there to handle something that would probably take two minutes to deal with."

"So what _are_ you going to do then? Marisa asked

 _ **The Next Day…**_

"Hey philanderer, you in!" Reimu called out as she opened the door to John's office. She was met by Yuuka wearing a frilly pink apron and small smile on her face.

"Oh my Reimu and Marisa, back again already? How can I help you?" Yuuka asked calmly

"Look, I don't need you, I need the philanderer." Reimu stated bluntly

"How rude, but very well. My darling John is out back, wait here while I go get him."

Walking off with a skip in her step, Reimu couldn't help but notice just how...well how _happy_ Yuuka looked. Her smile didn't have that usual sense of foreboding that one would normally associate with her, and Reimu didn't feel any of the...oddness that Yuuka would normally give off that she normally did from the few times Reimu spoke with her.

"Huh...I thought she was kidding, but it looks like she really is taking the housewife thing seriously." Reimu muttered

"I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or not." Marisa said "Anyway, why ask John for help? We can handle this thing."

"Look, this is an actually decent service when you think about it. I could give this guy a sack of potatoes and he takes care of a minor youkai or two? Sounds like a win-win to me."

"Reimu, you don't even _have_ a sack of potatoes...I don't think you can even _afford_ that."

"Shut up." Reimu growled

As the two bickered, John finally walked into the room. His hair and skin looked a little glossy, making it clear that he'd just gotten done bathing.

"Can't say I expected to see you two." John said "What brings you here?"

"I got a proposition for you is what Mr. Philanderer!" Reimu said with a smile

"Will you please not call me that?"

"I call it as I see it, that's not important anyway. What is important _is_ that I got a job for you!"

"A job?" Kogasa said walking into the room "What could you possibly have for us to do?"

"Oh it's you. Run along, I'm talking to the boss."

"She's my secretary. If anything, she needs to be here." John said "Now what's this job."

"Right, there's this youkai hanging out in the forest of magic, and I need you and your band of misfits to go and take care of it."

"Is that your job?" Kogasa said in a deadpan voice

"I'm busy, so I can't handle it."

"Busy with what exactly?" John asked with a raised eyebrow

"Um...well..."

"Look, if you think you can just shirk your duties off on me, then sorry, I'm not running that kind of business."

"C-come on hear me out! I mean, at least hear what the thing is like. Marisa saw it last night."

Looking at Kogasa, John motioned for Marisa to explain what she had saw the previous night. As the magician explained herself, John's eyes slowly grew wider.

"You're serious…?" John asked, his voice no longer casual like before

"Yeah, that's what I saw. My master spark didn't even faze the thing."

Hearing that John began to pace around the room, a panicked look on his face.

"John, what's wrong? Do you know what that thing is?" Kogasa asked

"Yeah, if it's who I think it is...then that's Odin." John said grimly

"Odin…?" Marisa said

"Yeah...he's...well Kogasa, remember how I said I fought some god-like beings before?"

"Yeah, why? Wait...you're saying that this is one of them?"

"Definitely one of them if that description is to be believed." John said as he continued his pacing "To make matters worse, this is an elder primal..."

"Elder...primal?" Kogasa uttered slowly

"Basically, he's a really old god. Really strong too."

"Okay, so what the hell is he doing running around the forest?" Marisa said with an annoyed tone "Is he just looking for a fight?"

"Yes actually. I'm not surprised he's in that forest. It was the same with Gridania..."

"Is that where you're from?" Reimu asked

"No, and it doesn't matter right now. Kogasa, go get everyone, we're gonna need all hands for this one."

"My my, does that include me?" Yuuka asked in a singsong voice

"Actually...yeah. You're strong Yuuka, I'd feel a bit safer if you were there to help out."

Surprised at his words, Yuuka could only blush and give an uncharacteristically meek nod "Of course...I'd help you out no matter what John."

"Alright, there's just one final issue." John said with a sigh

"And that is…?" Reimu asked

"When Odin is defeated, all that will remain is his sword."

"Really? That thing looked kinda cool, maybe I can sell it for some cash!" Marisa said grinning

"Don't bother, you wouldn't get that far." John laughed

"What do you mean by that? It's just a sword!"

"No...the sword is Odin's true form. If you touch it, then you'll become possessed, a new body for Odin to inhabit and at that point it's too late for you."

"Well, why not just seal it then?" Reimu said with a shrug

"I don't have that ability unfortunately."

Reimu let out a sigh, she was really hoping that she wouldn't have to lift a finger at all "Alright fine, I guess I can help out. Leave sealing the thing to me, you and your group just wear it down, what time do we act?"

"As soon as possible, the sooner we can get rid of Odin the better."

With this, the group split apart to get ready for their mission. Reimu and Marisa were going back to the shrine to gather the proper sealing tools, while Kogasa had ran off to gather up the other members of Favor Trade. As soon as everyone had gathered together, they all went towards the forest of magic, meeting up with Reimu and Marisa halfway there. As they all hovered over the mess of trees, They couldn't help but notice that the sky had suddenly turned dark and a strange mist permeated the area.

"What is this…?" Medicine asked "This mist is strange...it was clear skies just a moment ago."

"It kind of reminds me of something my sister did once." Flandre muttered

"It's Odin's calling card...whenever you see this mist, it means he's around. Now then, you all know the plan right?" John said looking at everyone

"We hit him hard and fast…mostly hard though." Yuuka said with a giggle

"Marisa and I will be waiting to seal the sword once he's defeated. We'll keep out of your way until then." Reimu said

"Much appreciated, but if you feel the need to fire off that master spark of yours, don't hesitate...just don't hit us please." Kaguya said holding a sleeve up to her mouth "I'm trusting in your aim."

"Heh, don't worry, no games this time, this seems pretty serious, so I'm super focused, now get in there!" Marisa said pointing to the area of the forest where she'd seen him last.

"Alright everyone let's go! We're gonna fill him with hot-"

In an attempt to be dramatic, John had turned the bracelet on his wrist so that it would invoke his Machinst abilities

"LEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" He screamed as he plummeted to the ground, thankfully Flandre was fast enough to catch up with him

"You okay…?" Flan asked

"Y-yeah...I forgot that I can only fly while on Scholar...well, anyway, let's go! He said heading into the forest followed by the others.

Having watched the entire ordeal, Marisa couldn't help but turn to Reimu "You really think they'll be okay?"

"Honestly? I give them a 50-50 chance if this thing is as strong as they say."

"Wanna make a bet out of it?"

"You're on."

As the two made their little bet, the members of Favor Trade made their way through the dense, dark forest until they came to a clearing where Odin could be seen pacing around on his steed Sleipnir, He didn't seem to be doing much else, just looking around every now and then.

"Okay everyone, remember: This isn't like a usual danmaku fight. Don't hold back, throw everything you've got at him." John whispered

"Everything?" Yuuka said with a dangerous smile

"Yeah, now I'll go out first and-"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I'LL KILL YOU!" Flandre giggled madly as she flew out of their hiding spot, whipping out Lævateinn at attempting to deliver a killing blow to Odin who just barely blocked her attack, forcing her back with his shield.

"Well that's one way to start things off...everyone attack!" John shouted taking out his gun. Reaching to his threw out a small orb which quickly changed into a small floating cylindrical machine that began opening fire on Odin.

"What's that thing?!" Kogasa exclaimed as she dodged a sword swipe and tossed some Danmaku back at Odin

"Just an autoturret! Don't worry, it won't hit you!" John yelled back as he began shooting at Odin as well.

"Four of a Kind~!" Flan exclaimed splitting into four different versions of herself as Odin took another swipe at her.

"He's...a lot faster than I thought-eep!" Kogasa shouted dodging an attack. However, this was followed up by Yuuka delivering a gut busting punch to Sleipnir which caused the horse to stumble back a bit.

"Keep focused, this isn't a danmaku game." Yuuka chided

"Yuuka Move!" Kaguya called out pushing the flower youkai out of the way only to receive a deep gash in her side for the trouble.

"H-how it'd rebound so quick?!" Yuuka exclaimed getting to her feet.

"Kaguya are you okay?!" John yelled running over to her, while opening fire on Odin in attempt to keep him at bay.

"Uuugh..." Kaguya groaned "That...really hurts...a lot." She murmured staggering to her feet.

"This isn't good, he's just as tough as I thought." John muttered "We've got to end this quick...can you still fight Kaguya?"

"Y-yes I can. Something like this will heal quickly."

"Great. Everyone, keep pouring on the attacks! Keep him distracted!"

"You got it~!" Flan giggled flying towards Odin with her clones and ramming into him. The force was enough to send the primal skidding back, while Yuuka followed up with more punches,

"Okay perfect. Let's hope I can get this combo working in real life..." John said as he quietly activated all the buffs needed for Machinist's Wildfire technique. Blood For Blood, Hawk's Eye, Raging Strikes, Internal Release, Rapid fire, and lastly Rook Overdrive to help up his damage even more. With all the abilities active, John got close and tossed a small clock-like device onto Odin's body.

"Only fifteen seconds to make this work...alright get ready for this Odin!" John shouted as he began opening heavy fire on Odin with his turret firing alongside him. The others saw the hailing bullets whizzing past them and backed off as just continued firing before loading in one special bullet that would do some extra damage when he was finished, a small explosion rocked Odin's body sending him toppling over.

"John, what was that?" Kogasa asked

"A whole bunch of bullets and an explosion." John said flatly

"Oooooh, that's one of those human weapons! A...gun I think?" Flandre said marveling at John's weapon "Patchy said they're pretty powerful and kill humans in one hit...they can even kill some youkai!"

"That's right, now don't get distracted!"

"What it's not like that thing is getting back up is it?" Medicine said

It was then that Odin got back to his feet, raising his blade to the sky as several smaller blades struck the ground covering it in a purplish-red glow.

"W-what the hell is this?!" I feel like my power is being sapped away!" Yuuka growled

"The swords! We have to destroy the swords!" John called out

"No problem!" Flan said as she and her clones got to work "Keep him busy, I'll take care of them!"

This wasn't how the fight would go in game, you'd usually need at least two people dealing with those blades, but Flandre had more than enough power to make up for that.

"Okay everyone, you heard the vampire!"

Numerous sounds of agreement rang out from John's allies as they all charged Odin. Kaguya drawing his attention with her attacks while Medicine covered him in poison to slow his movements and weaken him in general. John kept firing at him with gun, while Kogasa backed him up with danmaku of her own. Even with all this, Odin was giving them a run for their money, having used an attack that caused everyone to move slower than usual.

"Flan, how is destroying those swords coming along?" John shouted

"A-almost, they're a lot more sturdy than I thought and I'm moving slower too!" Flan called back as she'd finally destroyed half of them "And I can't just explode these ones for some reason!"

"It's just the slow effect Flan. Keep hammering away, it'll wear off in time!" John called back to her

The fight raged one with each side tossing attacks at one another. Odin was pulling out all the stops, from blasts of dark energy, to deadly sword slashes, it was taking all that the members of Favor Trade had to keep the elder primal at bay. Even after Flan destroyed the swords and joined in on the attack with her clones it was still barely enough. The fight seemed hopeless...until John saw a telltale sign that the fight was nearing its end: Odin had gone to the middle of the clearing and was just standing there to the befuddlement of everyone else.

"Uh...what's he doing?" Kogasa asked turning to John

"Shit...SHIT! EVERYONE, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO! KILL HIM, HIT HIM WITH EVERY LAST ATTACK YOU HAVE! DON'T STOP!" John bellowed as he began using his Wildfire combo

The ladies followed his lead, using their strongest attacks, yet Odin still remained unperturbed

"Everyone get back. I'll handle this!" Yuuka called out as she pulled her parasol from...somewhere.

' _Where the hell was she keeping that thing?'_ John thought

Yuuka took aim with her parasol as it began to glow, power building up in it before Yuuka let loose a devastating blast. One that completely engulfed Odin and lit up the forest with a bright blinding light.

This continued on for three full minutes before the light show finally died down and the dust settled. When the smoke finally cleared, the group could see Odin standing there as if he were unhurt. However, he began to slowly stagger before finally disappearing in a small glow of light until nothing was left within the clearing but his sword.

"We did it...that was too close for comfort." John said with sigh of relief

"What was so dangerous about that attack?" Kaguya asked

"That was Shin-Zantetsuken, had Odin built up enough power well...we wouldn't be standing here any longer. Well, except you Kaguya, for obvious reasons."

At this, everyone trades nervous looks, even Yuuka was perturbed by the words he'd just said.

"S-so you've fought things like...like that _before_?" Medicine asked

"Yeah...but I don't know what he's doing here though. Odin shouldn't be here at all. But that's not important right now. Reimu, Marisa! You're up!" John called out

The shrine maiden and witch both descended into the area with concerned looks on their faces. "You...you guys okay?" Marisa asked looking the group over "You've all got some serious wounds..."

Looking at his team, John had to concede that Marisa was right. All of the girls had numerous cuts, bruises and torn clothing, with John being no different. It was amazing that they weren't as bloody as one would expect having to deal with what they did.

"We'll be fine. Just do your part already." John said

"Right, let's get to work Marisa." Reimu said as she walked up to the sword with Marisa in tow. "Yeah...this thing is definitely evil. One touch and you'd be possessed for sure, just like you said." She muttered sizing it up.

"Alright, Marisa, get the salts and charms ready."

"Yeah yeah...I really wish I could get that sword myself..."

Reimu glowered at the woman as the two began to get to work properly sealing the sword. They covered it in dozens of charms, each one causing the blade to hiss a bit with each one. Marisa then tossed on some purifying salts to weaken it further, before Reimu began to chant in a low voice. The words made no sense to John, but the very air around Reimu seemed to become more and more pure the more she chanted. It became so pure that it was abnormal to say the least. It was a full ten minutes of chanting before Reimu finally finished and approached the sword.

"That ought to do it." Reimu said poking the sword "Whatever this thing is, it's power is sealed away now. With that being the case, I guess I'll take it to the shrine and keep it there."

"Actually...if it's okay with you Reimu, could I keep it?" John asked

"Huh? Why? Weren't you the one saying that this thing is super dangerous?"

"Well yes, I just want it to be kept somewhere where no one will find it."

"He's got ya there Reimu, you've got waaaay too many poking around your shrine. Imagine what would happen if Suika or that moon fairy grabbed it?"

"Ugh...good point. But what are you going to do with it John, just toss it in a closet or something?"

"I mean maybe? I just think we need to keep this thing from falling into the wrong hands."

"I agree. I'll grab some extra charms and seals and bring them to you tomorrow. Until then, keep that sword out of sight. We don't want anyone asking questions or knowing about the thing."

Numerous forms of agreement were heard all around as John took the sword, hurrying back to Favor Trade with his friends in tow. The entire time, the other girls stayed close to him, worried that he may fall to possession at any given time. Once they'd gotten to the village and back to the office, John stowed the blade away in a nearby closet. At first he thought that he should put a 'keep out' sign on it or something, but according to Kaguya, that would only draw more attention, people had a habit of breaking the rules after all.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm taking a bath. That was awful, I never want to fight another one of those 'primal' things again." Medicine said with an exasperated sigh

"I agree, I think I'll join you.." Kaguya muttered

It was clear that everyone was tired beyond belief from the entire ordeal. Even Flan, who had originally entered the fight with so much vigor was showing signs of exhaustion.

"Alright, I think we've done enough work for the day. You all go rest in the bath, I'll wait my turn." John said with a wave of his hand.

"You aren't going to join us?" Yuuka asked with a fake pout

"No, I'm not. Now go on already." John sighed

Yuuka looked at Kogasa...who looked to Kaguya...who then looked to Flan, who looked at Medicine.

"You guys aren't going to stop even if I protest, so just get on with it." Medicine groaned heading towards the bath.

What followed was John being manhandled by the girls as they tore his clothes off him and dragged him towards the bath. Though it was only a small walk to the area outside of the office where the bath was, John felt as if it were an eternity to walk there, not holding things is that the ladies were all pushing him towards it, and several times he could swear that there were some...hands going to places they really shouldn't have. After being (literally) tossed into the water, John sank his head down as one by one the girls all joined him. Of course, that didn't stop him from getting an eyeful. Mostly at Kaguya,Yuuka, and Kogasa. In fact, his eyes were glued to them for the entire time that all of the members of Favor Trade were cleaning themselves. Suffice to say, John probably saw some things that many men of the village could only _dream_ of. And if he had to be honest, he wasn't all that upset about this at all.

This would be a fond memory of his for years to come.

Once they'd finished bathing, everyone proceeded to relax until night fell where everyone decided to go to bed early. Still, even as he drifted away to sleep, John couldn't help but question just _how_ Odin had turned up in Gensokyo. He could only hope that he wasn't the cause of it…

 _ **Later that Night…**_

It was a little past midnight, and though the other members of Favor Trade had gone to bed, Yuuka remained awake. Truth be told, she was only slightly tired, much of her stamina having returned already, a perk of being a powerful youkai like herself. However, there was one thing that was keeping her up tonight...and sure enough there it was. A hole opening up in the middle of the Favor Trade office. The hole had a multitude of eyes, all of them looking directly at Yuuka, as a blonde woman clad in purple and a white mob cap popped her head through, a smile on her face.

"My my, up so late Yuuka-chan~?" She said in an innocent voice as she brought a fan up to her face

"What do you want Yukari?" Yuuka spat angrily

"Oh nothing much. The same I wanted as before when I stopped by Eientei. I want to speak to your fiance is all." Yukari said with that same tone

"He's sleeping, come back never." Yuuka growled

"Come now, why are you being so mean? I just want to talk"

"Because, if you're here, then it's for more than just talking. And knowing you, you'd attempt to put him in harms way or manipulate him in some way."

"Nonsense, I've never done anything of the sort!" Yukari said in mock offense

"And I've never razed a human settlement. Get out Yukari."

"Very well. As much as I'd like to force my way in, causing a ruckus in the human village isn't wise." Yukari said with a sigh, but just as quickly her voice began to drip with venom and became surprisingly cold "But know _this_ : You cannot protect him forever. You stopped me at Eientei yes, but at some point I _will_ find him by his lonesome and just like that, I'll figure out why he's here and what he's planning. On that I promise."

With those ominous words, Yukari left just as quickly as she came, leaving Yuuka to scowl at the spot where she'd been just moments before.

"Rotten Yakumo..." was all she muttered out before deciding to retire to her room. Surprisingly, whatever vigor she had was sapped away merely by Yukari appearing.

 _ **The Forest of Magic…**_

A lone figure stood over where John and the others had fought Odin earlier in the day. The figure was ecstatic, surprised even. It had brought Odin into this world to see how John and the others would fare against a genuine threat. No doubt that if they could best Odin, who had retained all its powers, then they'd be able to defend themselves from some of the more...violent residences of Gensokyo or rather, the ones more likely to act when they _felt_ threatened.

"Truly, this is turning out to be most interesting." The figure muttered to no one while laughing "I really can't wait to see how things turn out. Perhaps this feeling is why _she_ is always indulging in such machinations…"

* * *

 **And so we end another chapter. I feel I should make a bit of a mention here for Yukari and Yuuka's interaction. I don't think its ever been shown or expanded upon, but I like to imagine that Yuuka is so strong that she makes Yukari cautious. Where Yukari is a calculating manipulator, Yuuka is able to rely on her strength to outdo Yukari. And if the two got into an all-out brawl, there'd be an all out brawl all over Gensokyo. With that being said, enjoy the chapter, and hopefully I can get the next chapter out more quickly.**


	10. Chapter 10: Hell Hath No Fury

**...So uh, yeah. I don't know what the hell happened here, but this chapter came together far faster than I expected. Would you believe that I busted out a large chunk of this chapter in one night? Like, I don't know what happened, but one night I thought "Haha, I'll just do a few hundred or so words" And the next thing I knew there was about an extra 4,000 words on the page. That aside, I just wanna give a quick thanks to those who wished me well on getting married! I really do appreciate that. There's not much to say here besides that, so please enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

It had been a few weeks since the incident with Odin, and while things had ended well enough for the members of Favor Trade, John couldn't help but feel on edge. He was still trying to figure out just how on earth Odin appeared, and he'd become slightly paranoid at the possibility of other primals appearing. The reason for this was due to what kind of primal Odin was, since he was an elder primal he didn't need to rely on brainwashing innocent people into believing in him, but if say Ifrit or Titan showed up, then he couldn't guarantee that the same wouldn't happen to his friends...and that was the last thing he wanted to happen to a group of woman who had the strong prospect of becoming his future spouses.

Wait...spouses? With an S? Dammit, Yuuka and the others really were getting to him with that whole thing. Speaking of which, ever since that day, Yuuka had become far more attached to John. He couldn't figure out why, but she had begun following him around. If he was working guard duty for the night, she'd follow along and make some snacks for the other guards, if he did some work at the school, she wouldn't be far behind, and even when he was just enjoying some time off she would still be there, holding tightly onto his arm. When John tried to question her, she merely said that he'd thank her one day.

Of course, Kogasa didn't like this and so she began doing the same when she could, granted she wasn't as clingy and with the rainy season underway, having her around to shield him from the rain was actually pretty nice. As for everyone else, things had been fairly normal, Medicine was as sarcastic as ever, Flan enjoyed coming in when she could (the rain was making it difficult for her) and Kaguya was still being herself, though thanks to her planning for the eventual wedding, that brought us to today where John and the others were all sitting on the first floor office while Byakuren, Reimu, A girl with light hair that was done up in a way that made it look as if she had animal ears, she had a magnificent purple cape and in a weird compliment to her outfit, she wore a pair of purple headphones. John had to admit that he didn't think anyone in Gensokyo would wear something like that, but he had to admit that they were pretty cool. Alongside her was another person he didn't know. She was a green-haired girl wearing what could basically be called the inverse of Reimu's outfit. Instead of red and white, it instead was blue and white. The only other notable thing about her was the snake shaped hair accessory that wrapped around a bit of her hair and a frog-shaped hairpin. It was actually kind of cute. That aside John gave Kaguya a sideways glance.

"Alright Kaguya, I'll bite, what the hell is this?" John asked motioning to the women in front of him

"Isn't it obvious? We need to pick a venue for the wedding."

"You're kidding right?" Medicine said sighing "Isn't this a waste of everyone's time? I mean, why plan for something so early?"

"It pays to plan ahead." Kaguya replied casually

"Oh I like this! I vote Hakurei Shrine, the oni would be able to attend right Reimu?" Yuuka asked excitedly

"I can definitely make that happen so long as you pay me!" Reimu replied with a wide smile

"The greed in your eyes is painfully easy to see." Byakuren said with a sigh "That said, the Myouren shrine is more than willing to host the event. I'd even be willing to chant a few sutras for you as well."

"Senile as always." The headphone wearing woman scoffed "I am Miko Toyosatomimi, unlike that greedy shrine maiden and the senile old nun, if you have your wedding at the Mausoleum, I can guarantee you it'll be a celebration worthy of the princess's standing, I am sure that the denizens of the Scarlet Devil Mansion would be quite happy with such a celebration as well.

"She's not wrong, big sister does enjoy her fancy parties..." Flan said rubbing her chin. "I guess I'll throw my vote in for them."

Miko couldn't help but let out a small grin at her words, casting a glance over at Byakuren who maintained a fake smile.

"I'm going with Byakuren. She's done right by me in the past, so I'm sure it'd be fine. Besides, they always have drinks at their parties anyways." Kogasa said

At this Byakuren's smile became a bit more relaxed and smug as she shot a glare over at Miko, the latter not saying anything.

"Ugh...did Tenchi have to put up with this I wonder?" John sighed to himself

"Well, knowing his luck, Ryoko would have just whisked him away." The green-haired girl replied with a smirk

"Wait..." John said staring at her with awe "Say that again..."

"Er...Ryoko would have just whisked him away?" She replied with unease in her voice

"You...you know about Tenchi Muyo?" John asked in disbelief

"Yeah, I do! I remember enjoying it back in the day."

"Okay uh...what is this pose from?" John said placing an open palm in front of his face

"OH MY GOD!" Sanae replied laughing

"Okay okay so you'rea Jojo girl too, that's good to know, now for a hard one: What is the story of Kingdom Hearts?"

"Last I recall nobodies didn't have hearts, Ansem from KH1 actually _wasn't_ Ansem and Donald still barely healed me when I needed him to. Oh, has KH3 released yet?" she asked

"No it hasn't, but they're working on it! I can't believe it, you're really from the outside!" John said grabbing the green-haired girl and hugging her "What's your name?"

"S-Sanae Kochiya. You're John Graham right? I've heard the villagers talk about you a lot. I...didn't expect you to be so...friendly."

"It's just...I haven't talked to someone from the outside at all. Or at least, they don't know the same things like you and I...wait...tell me you know what Final Fantasy is!" John said breaking the hug and holding onto her shoulders.

"Of course I do! I've had a lot of fun playing it. Though I think my favorite would have to be X. I quite enjoyed that one, silly voice acting and all. Auron was of course the best thing of that particular game."

John didn't know what it was, but he felt as if a large weight had been lifted from his shoulders, it was as if an extreme amount of loneliness he didn't know he had been feeling had suddenly disappeared all at once. Byakuren was right, he and Sanae would _definitely_ get along with one another if they sat down and talked more.

"Er...John are you okay?" Sanae asked as he continued staring at her

"Will you marry me?" He blurted out without thinking

This turned out to be a _very_ bad thing to say as John felt an extremely powerful aura of rage directed at him from behind. Craning his neck around slowly, he saw Kogasa, Yuuka, Kaguya, and Flandre all staring at him with looks that could only be described as murderous.

"Hey...Big Sis Yuuka...it's okay if I kill her right? One less shrine maiden isn't an issue right?" Flan said creepily

"Oh quite right Flanny...but explosions aren't fun...we should make her death _slow._ " Yuuka replied grinning evilly

"Worry not, I can provide us with more than enough time that should be sufficient in allowing you both to enjoy yourself." Kaguya said with the same grin

"I'm going to show you what true fear really is." Kogasa threatened in such an uncharacteristically menacing manner, that everyone in the room (except the angry women) even Reimu visibly recoiled from her words. She'd even managed to surprise everyone with her blood lust, but she was too angry to notice…

Medicine sidled up next to John looking at him "Now John, usually I like to see you squirm, but I have some advice for you and that shrine maiden."

"W-what's that?" John stammered

"Run. Run far and _fast_."

Taking Sanae's hand, John bolted out of the door and not a moment too soon as a blast of concentrated magic appeared from Yuuka's parasol. The other women following after the two with only the thoughts of maiming Sanae (and brutally beating John) in their minds.

"Well...now that they're gone, lets get back to business." Medicine said taking John's seat

"Uh...should we help them?" Byakuren asked

"Nah, it's best to not get involved in couple disputes." Reimu said with a shrug "Anyway, we're left with a conundrum now. Just where will we host the wedding?"

"Well, why not make it a joint event?" Medicine said casually

"A joint event?" Miko said with her eyes raised "Why should we do that?"

"Look, I know why you all showed up here. You came in _person_ instead of sending someone. Well, Reimu doesn't have anyone to send so that's different."

"H-hey!"

"You know it's true." Medicine said "You all want John to pick your place because it'd be one hell of a boon to your image. Let's face it, John is kind of a celebrity in the village and if he showed favoritism to one of you then that'd really boost your followers wouldn't it?"

The other women were silent, she'd hit the nail on the head.

"You're surprisingly smart for someone who lived out on a hill just a little while ago." Reimu said with an exasperated tone

"You share a home with a princess and you pick up on some political knowledge. That being said...those weirdos are my friends...it still feels weird saying that...but it's true. They're my friends, so I'm gonna give you all an offer: We have a big gathering at the Hakurei Shrine and-"

"YES! MONEY!" Reimu shouted cutting Medicine off

"But!" Medicine said regaining control of the situation "While the Hakurei Shrine is hosting the venue, we'll leave it up to the Mausoleum to provide food for the entire thing. As for the Myouren group, I'm sure you can provide some decent security?"

Byakuren rubbed her chin for a bit "Well, Nazrin does have the mice at her command, so I suppose they'd be useful for spotting things is something seems awry."

"Perfect. As for the Moriya group, I'm sure simply being there will be enough to waylay any potential fears the townsfolk would have should any youkai get rowdy and if they 'bless' the married group, then it'll just make them look good."

"Hmph, would allowing youkai be wise? I don't think many humans could stand being around them for too long." Miko inquired

"It should be fine, and no matter how you slice it, youkai are going to appear. Look at who John's getting married to. Flandre alone will attract the Scarlet Devil Mansion."

"She's right..." Reimu sighed "Remilia will no doubt boast about this and send word to some of the other more noticeable figures in Gensokyo. Then, we have Suika and I'm sure I shouldn't have to tell you about the kinds of parties Oni are likely to get involved with."

The other two women gave her looks of understanding. There really was no way around this and with the people John had come to know and work with youkai attendance was absolutely assured, no matter how you looked at it.

"Okay, but why a joint event?" Reimu asked "The usual youkai who visit wouldn't get into a serious altercation or attempt to eat anyone while on the shrine grounds."

"That's true." Medicine replied "But just think of this as a favor to all of you, if you all come together for this event then I'm pretty sure it'll just make all of your respective shrines look good in the eyes of the public. Showing that you're all willing to come together for a wedding of this size? The people will sing praise of your 'generosity and 'kindness'."

"I can't help but feel like she's mocking us." Miko said with a deadpan stare

"Totally." Reimu muttered

"Agreed." Byakuren mumbled

"Still, it's a pretty good deal all things considered. "Consider the residents of the Mausoleum in agreement." Miko said

"The Myouren temple is in agreement as well, I have to admit I'm actually really looking forward to this now!" Byakuren said smiling happily "A union between a human and youkai is quite momentous!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm on board as well, I just better get paid." Reimu said with a shrug of her shoulders "I guess we'll just be waiting on word from Sanae...provided she doesn't get killed."

"Uh yeah, aren't you gonna go help with that?"Medicine asked

"Nah, she'll be okay, besides, it's good experience for her."

"Er...right, well, if that's all I guess we're done here then."

"Indeed. Have a good day." Miko said getting to her feet and exiting the office, the other two women right behind her.

"Hey. Nun." Miko said once they were all outside and a little ways away from the office

"Yes…?"

"You noticed it too didn't you?"

"There's something weird about that John Graham."

"Weird? How so?" Reimu asked

"Well...for one thing I couldn't hear his desires."

"You were doing that while he was there?" Reimu said with a deadpan look

"Of course, I was curious as to what kind of person he was...but I couldn't get a read on him. I mean, his desires were _there_...but it was jumbled, almost as if multiple parts of him were yelling out all at once. That's...not normal."

"Indeed...he's done _something_ to Kogasa as well. I don't know what it is for sure, but something about her is fundamentally different now. I had heard tale from a few villagers that visited the temple that she was being seen as some sort of good luck youkai."

"Good luck? You mean like that rabbit from Eientei?" Reimu said with a raised eybrow

"I am not sure..." Byakuren said thinking "But suffice to say, being around John has changed her. I..I'm pretty sure she's actually a fair bit stronger than before now."

"Really? That Karkasa?" Miko said "I doubt that."

"She's not wrong." Reimu said her voice becoming a bit more serious "I didn't pay it any mind before, but a few weeks ago, there was a small incident with some weird black horseman guy running around in the forest of magic. I worked with John to help seal it, but thinking back...Kogasa was actually _helpful_ in that fight."

"Helpful?" The other two said in unison

"Yeah, she didn't go down in a few hits, she kept on fighting alongside the others...and this wasn't some danmaku duel either. This was the real deal, an actual battle with lives on the line."

"That's..intriguing. I think it'd be wise if we keep an eye on this John Graham...maybe he's planning something. Maybe he's planning a social upheaval of some kind?" Byakuren pondered

"Perhaps he wishes to create his own youkai army?" Miko said thinking out loud

"Frankly, I think he just wants to drown himself in women." Reimu said casually "Come on, Kaguya, Yuuka, Kogasa, _and_ Flandre? That man has some 'interesting' tastes to say the least."

On this the other two agreed. "Well who cares? If something happens, I'll put him in his place, but for right now I'm just looking forward to pay day!"

The other two women sighed as Reimu walked off cheerfully "Still blinded by money..." Byakuren said with a sigh

"Indeed...it could be worse though." Miko muttered

"That it could..."

The two women went their separate ways, not really wanting to be in each other's company any longer than they had to be.

 _ **Meanwhile, as John ran for his life**_

John and Sanae had been running for their lives throughout the village. Sanae for her part had been dragged along as John attempted to find somewhere for them to hide. The issue is that the four women chasing him were no slouches, and they practically zoomed after the two of them, kicking up dust throughout the village as they gave chase. John was currently thinking hard as he ran with Sanae in tow on where he could go to get away from the super powerful women chasing after him. Eientei was out, Eirin is extremely loyal to Kaguya and him going there to hide from her wrath wouldn't be any help, as she'd more than likely serve them to the angry girls on a silver platter if necessary. The same could be said for the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia would probably rip his heart out for making her baby sister angry...or worse.

Yuuka's place was a no go, she could talk to flowers and they'd dime him out in a heartbeat (he still had to pause for a second to believe that was an actual possible outcome). Really, he was hard pressed for ideas and he quickly jumped into an alley to catch his breath.

"O-okay, I think we're safe for now." John said huffing to catch his breath

"Y-yeah...for now." Sanae said "I...um...I can sort of understand why they're angry though."

"I...I didn't mean to uh...look it's not like you aren't cute or anything! I mean, you're really cute! Perfect 10 actually but-!"

"Um...I understand, but lets focus on the issue at hand okay?" Sanae said with a small blush

"R-right..." John replied calming down "The issue now is hiding out. They're way too mad to listen to reason, and I can't think of any place to go for safety..."

"We can go to my shrine." Sanae said simply "It's on the mountain, and the tengu there would act as a perfect shield to keep the girls away from us. At least until they calm down."

"Are you sure?" John asked "I don't want to bring trouble to your shrine

"It's the best option we have, and like you said, they aren't going to listen to reason...and I'm sure they'll flay me alive if I try to say anything. Let's just go for now."

"Right, now we just have to sneak out and-"

"I CAN SMELL YOU JOHN~!" Flandre said in an unsettling voice as she stared at the two of them from the opposite end of the alley with a terrifying look on her face "COME CLOSER SO I CAN TAAAAAAAALK WITH YOU~!"

"Let's go!" Sanae said taking to the sky with John transforming into his Scholar form and flying after her.

The two took off as fast as they could, Flandre following behind them. It wasn't too long before three other women joined the chase, all of them with manic looks on their face.

"YOU CAN'T GET AWAY!" Kogasa exclaimed

"YOU'RE IN FOR A REALLY BAD PUNISHMENT~!" Yuuka yelled in a singsong voice

"YOU'RE GOING TO THE DUNGEON JOHN!" Kaguya called out  
"DIE SHRINE MAIDEN!" Flandre called out as she began shooting out explosions

"W-WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE DYING!" Sanae shrieked as she dodged one

"Don't bother talking to them, just go!" John called out dodging blasts and flying as best he could, though it was difficult given how strong Flan's attacks were.

Soon enough, waves of danmaku were being shot at the two, and it took all he had for John to not get hit, even then he took a few hits, the same going for Sanae. Four people using danmaku all at once made it difficult to dodge properly and it was only by luck that the two managed to reach the mountain.

"We-we're almost there! Just a bit farther!" Sanae called out dodging still

"GET BACK HERE!" Kogasa roared out letting loose more danmaku

"Just a bit more!" Sanae said flying up a waterfall, to which John followed, after that the two kept going as they flew over a settlement nestled in the mountains before landing in front of a shrine that had to be near the top, there were large wooden pillars strewn throughout and since they were in the air still, John could see a tram leading down to the foot of the mountain, as well as a large lake behind the shrine. Looking behind him, John could tell that the others had finally given up the chase...for now.

"Okay...we should be safe now. Lets get inside." Sanae said floating down to the ground and entering the shrine

"Yeah...er...sorry about all this Sanae. I really messed up."

"It's fine. Let me just go let Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako I'm home."

"Yeah...I'll be right here." John sighed as he sat down at the entrance, he didn't realize it, but his entire body had been shaking, is this what being engaged is like? Walking on eggshells and hoping you don't say the wrong thing to piss off the girl (or in this case girls) that you're supposed to be spending your life with? If that were the case, then maybe married life wasn't something he was cut out for.

"Wow, I didn't expect Sanae to actually bring a boy home." Came an unfamiliar voice that was looking at John from above.

"What the crap?!" John exclaimed falling over in fright "Jeez, don't sneak up on me like that, my heart definitely doesn't need that today."

Looking her over she was rather peculiar. She looked as if she could barely be over twelve years old, and was wearing a short simple purplish-blue dress with a frog print design, white kneehigh socks, black shoes, but most notable about her was the light brown wide-brimmed hat she had on. The notable part being the two large frog eyes that sat atop it. They were certainly eye-catching, and John could swear he saw them move ever so slightly.

He really hoped he just imagined that…

"Did something happen to you? You seem a bit jumpy...hmmm...hang on..." The girl said getting a bit close to his face "I've seen that look before. So you're having girl troubles?"

"Er...how did you know that?"

"I've been around the block a few times. I've seen that face more than once. Come on inside, I'm sure you and Sanae have a lot to fill us in on."

"R-right..."

"Following her inside, John sat in a small dining room. It was actually fairly modern looking, there was even a sink and stove inside, a far cry from most other places he'd seen in Gensokyo. It almost felt like he'd gone back home. At the head of the table sat a blue haired woman wearing an elaborate red shirt with long white sleeves and a round mirror over the center of her chest. Like the smaller girl before her, the most noticeable thing about her was the large rope that she had behind her.

"So this is the one getting married to that moon princess?" The woman asked sizing John up

"That's correct Lady Kanako...I had to bring him here after things got...complicated."

"Complicated?" she repeated "What happened?"

"Well..."

John and Sanae spent the next hour describing what all had happened, the entire time the other girl breaking out into hysterics as she laughed at their misfortune.

"I see..." Kanako said shaking her head "I like it!"

"Wait, you like what?" John said not following her

"Marriage! It'd be great for the shrine, and seeing as you're an outsider it's a perfect fit!"

"Hold on Lady Kanako what are you-" Sanae started

"John Graham as the resident goddess of this shrine, I give you my blessing to take Sanae's hand in marriage.

"WHAT?!" Sanae and John yelled together

"It is as I said!"

"You want me to marry him!?" Sanae sputtered

"You're a god?!" John exclaimed in disbelief

"Yes to both of those questions." Kanako replied casually

"Hey don't forget me, Goddess number 2 right here!" Suwako said laughing "Welcome to the family son-in-law!"

"I feel like we're deciding things just a bit too quickly!" Sanae pouted

"Yeah I agree! And uh, nice to meet you...never thought I'd get to meet two actual gods before.

"Really? I figured you've met at least one...you've definitely got a blessing already, or at least some kind of gift from one." Suwako said looking you over "Who do you follow?"

"Huh...I've never...met a god before..." John said slowly as his mind began to catch up, it was true he hadn't met a god before. But if he was taking the powers of his character from XIV, then he has in fact met a god before.

"You didn't…?"

"No...strike that. I most definitely have." John said with a sigh

"Okaaaay, so who is this god?"

"Are they coming to Gensokyo?" Kanako asked with a raised eyebrow

"Oh uh...no, or well, not that I know of. Honestly, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if she did show up."

"You sound...really unsure. Just what kind of god is this woman?"

"Hard to say, haven't really spoken to her too often. At least it not some of the others...I hope."

"What others?"

"Well they aren't nice. And I really don't want to have to kill them again and-"

"You kill gods?" Kanako interrupted giving him a pointed look

"Well uh...kinda? B-but only the bad ones! Like these guys were really bad. Like actually sucking up the life force of the land bad!"

"That does sound pretty evil..." Suwako said rubbing her chin "Gensokyo could really do without gods like that. So hey, where are you from anyway? You're definitely not a native from Japan."

"Oh, I'm from America and-"

"Oh now that is something I didn't see coming." Suwako grinned "Your people did a real bad number during that war ya know. So many bodies and a lot of land contaminated you know.

"Oh y-yeah, that did happen...well er...sorry?"

"Lady Suwako, don't blame him for that, it wasn't his fault!" Sanae chided

"Take it easy, I'm just stating the facts, besides I'm sure he has some choice words for me. After all Japan did strike first."

"Um...I mean, it wasn't your fault, so I can't in good conscious blame you for anything."

Suwako looked at John for a moment before laughing "You're a good kid. I like you, if you weren't for Sanae, I'd take you for myself."

"H-he's not for me!" Sanae remarked blushing "I barely even know him!"

"Well get to know him then." Kanako said "He'll be here for a while."

"I will?"

"He will?"

"Think for a moment John." Kanako said with a sigh "You pissed off four women you're engaged to, three of which are very notable figures in Gensokyo. I doubt they'll calm down for a while, and I think the best place for you now is here. They won't dare attempt to force their way through the tengu territory, so until they've calmed down I'll allow you to use our guest room."

"But how will we know when it's safe for John to go back?" Sanae asked

"Leave that to me!" Suwako said hopping up and down "I'll do some spying for you, I'll let you know when the heat has died down enough for you to go home."

"Really? Thanks, I really appreciate it." John said sighing "But...what about my business? I can't take requests from here."

"Hmmm, perhaps I can speak with the tengu. Surely they wouldn't mind giving you some work." Kanako said

"I'll ask the Kappa! They're usually always in need of extra hands with whatever projects they have going on." Sanae chimed in

"Okay, so for now John, this is your temporary headquarters! Kick up your feet and relax tonight and if you and Sanae want to get frisky, then just don't be too loud!"

"L-Lady Suwako!"

"What? You're two young kids! I know how full of energy you young folks can be."

"You…! Ugh, just forget it, come John, I'll show you to your room." Sanae said getting to her feet and heading down the hall.

"Er...thanks." He said getting up from the table and walking after her, a part of him had to wonder if Suwako was really a god with her saying things like that. Then again, this was Gensokyo, so expecting anything normal was silly on his part.

As the two exited the room, Suwako shot Kanako a curious glance "Marriage? Really? What made you jump to that so quickly?"

"It's as I said, it'd be a good for the shrine's image. Besides, Sanae had mentioned that John person a few times whenever she'd come back from the village. From what I can gather he's some kind of celebrity or at the very least is known as a 'youkai tamer'." Kanako said "So if he and Sanae get together it'll be good for us overall."

"Right, but you are aware that it was the moon princess who put this all together right? And judging from that story, if John brings a new girl home the other ladies won't be too happy."

"He can handle it, I can tell from the boy's eyes that he's seen his fair share of battle."

"That is true. Now I wonder who that god is he mentioned. It doesn't feel like any of the ones we know...it feels...otherworldly." Suwako said with a dark look "I mean, it didn't feel like Raijin, or Zues, or even Vishnu."

"You're right...that is interesting, but he claims that whoever she is, she won't be coming here and if that's true, then it's nothing to worry about."

I suppose you're right. That being said let's keep an eye on him for a while, see what he's got up his sleeve."

"Agreed."

The next few days had come and gone without too much incident. Suwako had kept to her word and had gone to the human village (in disguise of course) to gather information on what was going on in Favor Trade. According to the villagers, the women of the establishment had all been walking around with clear anger etched on their faces. They were still going about their work, but it was more so out of habit than it was with the usual friendly air that they'd give off. Several rumors had flown around that John had lost control of the youkai women, however Kaguya had put this at ease as she had managed to tell some people that there had simply been a disagreement between John and the women...and that when he returned he was sleeping on the couch.

This in turn caused many of the men to laugh at his misfortune as Kaguya saying that was all the information they needed to get what kind of 'disagreement' had occurred. The only one keeping things together at the moment was Medicine who had taken it upon herself to answer requests, since there was a sort of problem when Yuuka appeared angry.

That problem being that Yuuka is terrifying when she's mad.

While Suwako had gotten the information from the village, she decided to stop by the Hakurei Shrine, as she figured that Reimu would have the information regarding the wedding (Kanako had sort of jumped the gun and that could cause problems if they weren't careful). And she was quite surprised to find out the other people invited had actually agreed to a joint event. She'd have to let Kanako know about that, as she wasn't too sure if Kanako would be on board. She couldn't just decide for herself, after all Kanako was better at this kind of thing. She really knew how to keep the faith for the shrine at a decent level.

Once her information had been gathered she'd returned to the shrine and gave everyone a rundown of the information.

"Man, I am so screwed." John sighed as he buried his head in his hands

"Comes with the territory. Don't worry too much about that." Suwako said "Now, how about you Kanako? You want to take part in this joint event?"

"Hmmm, I don't see why not. With Sanae marrying John, it'd be wrong if we didn't participate."

"I'm not marrying him!" Sanae exclaimed

"So you say, but you two have really hit it off these past few days." Kanako smirked

"T-that's well-!"

"W-we're just good friends is all!" John sputtered

Though he said that, John couldn't deny that he and Sanae had spent a good amount of time talking to one another. Since they were both from the outside, they were able to talk about a lot of things. At first, Sanae had figured that him being from the States and her from Japan would cause some sort of rift, but the two shared many common interests. From video games to anime to movies, the two had actually spent a fair amount of time talking , the only thing the two had come to disagree on where which was better: burgers or pizza. She was even knowledgeable on Final Fantasy topics though she wasn't privy to XIV, which lead to John explaining how things worked and the general story of that game, which only made Sanae somewhat envious that she didn't have a computer of her own to enjoy playing while in Gensokyo (granted there'd probably be several hoops involved in getting a decent internet connection.

One issue had been Suwako and Kanako had been doing their best to get the two of them to give in to more carnal desires, as Suwako had prepared a bed for two on his first night, Kanako had offered him some food that would 'increase his stamina' and the two had tried to get him to walk in on Sanae bathing more than once. Which had only succeeded once...and John totally didn't see anything. Not at all, his eyes only just happened to drift down and get a full view of Sanae's posterior, and it was an accident. Completely. Totally. 100% not intentional. And he totally didn't stare for at least 3 full minutes. Scout's honor.

"Well regardless, we know what's up now. I'm gonna go. I have to work with the tengu today." John said getting to his feet.

"Hang on, I'll show you the way." Sanae said getting to her feet as well

"You kids have fun~!" Suwako called out as the two left

As Sanae and John made their way to the tengu village, he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, according to Sanae, the tengu were a bit arrogant and so they may treat him a particular way considering he was human. If what Sanae said was true, the only reason he was even able to get some work with them was thanks to Aya who stuck up for him being in her words 'a capable warrior who was willing to work diligently for something as simple as a small sack of apples.'

So in reality the tengu saw him as a means of cheap labor, one that they could fully exploit with little repercussion. Once they were at the gates Sanae stayed behind "Sorry, but this is as far as I go. Any further and I may end up causing trouble. I'll see you when you return to the shrine?" Sanae said

"Yeah, make me something good to eat okay?" John said with a grin

"Of course! I'll make you something really good tonight!" she said grinning back

"Get a room already." came a familiar voice

"Aya? Why are you here?" John said turning around

"Well, I stuck up for you, so the great Tenma assigned me as your babysitter."

"Oh...uh sorry."

"Nonsense, if anything, this lets me have you all to myself, I could always use some interesting stories for my paper."

"You aren't gonna make things up and get me roped into another marriage are you?"

"Hey now, I didn't make anything up at all! That goes against the journalist's honor!"

"Where's the honorable journalist?" John replied sarcastically

"Rude, but come on, we've got work to do."

"Sure, I can't just sit around at the shrine all day. What are we doing anyway?"

"Nothing to strenuous, just some information collecting around the mountain. I think about two or three hours and we'll be set to return." Aya said

"Huh, it takes you three hours to go around the mountain?"

"No, usually it takes about ten minutes, but I'm stuck with you, and humans aren't as fast as us crow tengu."

Yup, there's that arrogance that Sanae mentioned.

"Right well, let's get to it then. Sorry for slowing you down."

"It's no big deal. Let's get on with it."

The two of them continued around the mountain, checking out the usual haunts that Aya would visit to make sure that everything was okay, from some small tucked away places, to an area near the waterfall, and even further down, the two of them must have gone all over the mountain. The entire time, Aya would make small talk, attempting to get some new information out of him for an article.

"So you're saying you killed some god-like being named Odin?" Aya said scribbling it down "I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe."

"Go ask Reimu, she was there to see it." John said "Are we almost done yet?"

"Yeah, just this one last spot." Aya said leading him to a small downward slope. "This particular spot gives a good view of everything to the western side of the mountain and-"

Her words were cut off as she and John stared at the creature that sat sleeping several feet away from them. It was 12 feet tall at least, with four clawed feet made entirely of bone. In fact, that was a key feature of the creature. As not only was it feet made of bone, it's entire body was nothing but bone. From the wings that protruded from his back, to the razor sharp teeth that lined his maw, there was nothing but bone. And it had craned its neck to stare directly at Aya and John.

"That wasn't here before...what the hell is that thing…?!" Aya shouted in panic

"That's...a bone dragon." John said still surprised

"A _what_ dragon?!"

Before anything else could be said, the beast let out a blood-curdling roar as it spewed a sickly looking red and black mist at the two of them.

"Oh no ya don't!" Aya said with a swing of her leaf-like fan. The gust of wind following her swing was strong enough to knock the mist away from them as John just continued looking.

"What are you doing? You're the formidable warrior aren't you? Get in there!"

"No." John said plainly

"W-what do you mean no?!"

"This is...we need reinforcements. Retreat for now!" John said turning tail to run

"What, retreat?! W-why?! H-hey, wait for me!" Aya squealed flying after him, the two continued running as they looked back, the monster slowly giving chase. It was clear that it couldn't fly, so John took to the air with Aya in tow, realizing that it couldn't capture them, it could only watch as its prey flew off.

"What was that for? We could have taken that thing!" Aya growled clearly irritated at having to retreat "Now I'm gonna be knee-deep in paperwork reporting on that thing!"

"Don't worry Aya, think of this as a good thing."

"A good thing? How on _earth_ is this a good thing?!"

"You've got just the material for a new article."

At this, Aya's look shifted from one of misunderstanding, to a wide almost sinister grin. "Oh, now I'm _really_ interested."

* * *

 **I like to call these next set of chapters the "John screwed up and got kicked out of the house arc" Or JSKHA! Hmmm, nah, that's way too much of a mouthful. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, feel free to speculate on what its gonna be like whenever John gets home to the other girls...and how mad they'll be. Cuz hoo boy, that is gonna be one _hell_ of a time. Anyways, thanks for reading! **


	11. Chapter 11: Three is the Magic Number

**Okay, so here's another chapter that is here far earlier than expected. This one in particular had me up for about 13 hours or so, and if I ever do something like that again please slap me or take my computer away, because boy did I exhaust myself (which isn't good when you have to be up at 6AM for work the following day). That being said, another chapter for you all to enjoy.**

* * *

As John and Aya continued on back to the Tengu Village, the two of them had begun talking about what they'd just seen, or rather, Aya was more interested in how this would help her get an interesting article.

"So I assume you've run into a...bone dragon before?" Aya asked with her notepad in hand

"I have, and we're going to need the other tengu's help if we want to take it down." John said with a nod

"How many you expecting we'll need?"

"Well, if it's you and me going, that drops the number down to twenty-two others."

"T-twenty-two!? Is thing really that strong that we'd need twenty-four people in total?"

"Well, it comes down to twenty-one if I can convince Sanae to help out. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

"That's...okay, that's fine and all, but I don't know if Lord Tenma would be willing to give us that kind of manpower."

"We won't know unless we try. I'm gonna head to the shrine and see if Sanae is there, can you fill in the proper people while I'm away?"

"Sure, I'll handle that." Aya said flying off towards the village while John continued onward towards the shrine. Upon landing he was greeted by Suwako who was playing with a frog near the entrance.

"Hey there Son-in-Law! You're done with the tengu already?"

Ignoring her, John asked her if Sanae was here. Which, luckily for him she was, having just returned from some shrine work at Reimu's place (according to Sanae, Reimu's shrine was so rundown, that at times she simply couldn't stop herself from going over there and tidying the place up).

"John what's wrong?" Sanae asked "You look troubled."

"Troubled is putting it lightly. Sanae, I was wondering if you were up for helping me with some extermination?"

"Oh my, youkai extermination?! Sounds fun~!" Sanae said brandishing her gohei in excitement

"Uh...not necessarily." John said a bit put off by her eagerness to kill youkai

"Then...what is it?"

"A dragon..."

" _WHAT?!_ " Both she and Suwako exclaimed in shock

"Look Son-in-Law, killing dragons isn't a joke, you can't just go around saying something like that without a care in the world." Suwako said in a chastising tone, it was almost like she really was his mother with the say she spoke to him

"Look, it's _already_ dead, so we're just putting it back to way it was!" John protested

"What, so it's a zombie dragon?" Sanae asked

"No, it's a bone dragon. I've seen one before in my travels. We're gonna need at least twenty-four people to take it down for good, and I was wondering if you were willing to help out."

"Well..." Sanae said thinking it over "It is dead already...and I assume if its left there, it'll only cause trouble for everyone on the mountain down the line."

"That's the general idea." John said "So are you in?"

Looking over to Suwako, who gave a small nod, Sanae then nodded in turn "I don't mind helping, but where are we going to get the other twenty-two people to help us?"

"Well, we've got Aya helping out as well, so that's taking the number down to twenty-one. If we're lucky Aya can convince Lord Tenma to lend us some tengu forces to help out."

"That may be difficult..." Suwako said with a nervous laugh "Those tengu aren't too crazy about endangering their own if they can help it, heck, it took us years to get that tramway greenlit."

"You really think it'll be that hard?" John asked

"We're about to find out." Sanae said as she pointed up towards the sky

As if on cue, Aya appeared in front of the three, a serious look on her face "Hey John, I need you back at the village. You've been summoned by Lord Tenma."

"Really? Why does he want me, you explained things right?"

"I did, but I told him that you'd know more about that bone dragon than I would, so he called for you specifically."

"Alright then...Sanae, you're with me, you deserve to be there if you're gonna be fighting as well."

"Okay, let's go." she said taking to the skies.

The three of them made their way back to the tengu village, and once they touched down, John took notice of all the looks the three were getting.

"Whats up with them?" John whispered to Aya

"Well, you're a human, and you've been here for one day and you've got Lord Tenma calling for you. That's gonna turn a few heads."she whispered back "Just keep cool, when we get inside, just treat Lord Tenma with respect and it'll all go smoothly."

"I have to admit I'm a bit nervous. I've never met Lord Tenma myself." Sanae said with a nervous chuckle "I hope I don't cause any discomfort by being there."

"Don't worry, if he treats you wrong, then we'll fight it ourselves." John said resolutely

"B-but."

"You don't treat someone whose trying to help you with contempt, it won't do you any favors in the long run."

"My my, I didn't peg you as the chivalrous type." Aya joked "Are you planning to make some moves on the Moriya shrine maiden now as well?"

"I-I'm not doing that!" John said with a small blush "I just think that Sanae is a sweet girl for doing this when she has no real reason to!"

"Whatever you say. We're here." Aya said dropping her teasing act

The building that Lord Tenma resided in was about three-stories tall and unlike all the other wooden buildings that littered the tengu settlement, this one was far more ornately decorated, with numerous golden trimmings as well as several wind chimes hanging from various edges. It was also a distinguishing red, and not brown like nearly every other building within the village.

"Huh...quite the place." John said looking it up and down "Let's hope this goes well."

Walking up to the door, two guards wearing red masks with long noses stopped him with the swords they held in hand.

"Halt, what is your business here?" one of them asked in a commanding voice

"Uh, I'm John Graham, I'm the human who Lord Tenma called for." John replied

"Ah, of course. You're welcome inside." the guard said dropping the bass in his voice and letting him pass, However, he brought the blades up again in regards to Sanae and Aya

"Halt what is your-"

"Goddammit "Shouji you know why I'm here, I was just in the building less than an hour ago." Aya said in an exasperated tone

"Fair enough, but what about _her_?" he said pointing to Sanae

"They're both participating in the talks. In fact they're both instrumental to it." John said looking at the guards "Is it fair to think of them as my guests?"

"...Very well, but should she cause any trouble it falls on your head Aya."

"W-why me?"

"Because you got that human here in the first place, and the shrine maiden too."

"Yeah yeah, whatever, just let us through."

Acquiescing to her request, the guards lifted their blades and let them proceed. "Man, they always have sticks up their asses." Aya grumbled "Follow me, I'll lead you to Lord Tenma's office."

John and Sanae let her take point as they were lead along, several tengu stopping to stare at John and Aya as they walked along.

"Do they really have to stare so much?" Sanae whispered "It's kind of unnerving."

"Sorry, many of the tengu here don't leave the mountain, so to them, you're actually the first two living, breathing, humans that they've ever seen."

"I see...sure wish they didn't treat us like a walking zoo though." John mumbled

"Again, I'm sorry..."

Before long, the three reached a singular office on the top floor, the entire thing being just as ornately decorated as the outside was. Wasting no time, Aya lightly knocked on the door.

"Lord Tenma, it is I Aya Shameimaru. I've brought the John Graham with me."

"Enter." Came a muffled voice from behind the door

Stepping inside, John took stock of the office, it surprisingly wasn't as ornately decorated and seemed more practical, with several file cabinets stacked against the wall, as well as a small book shelf as well. The young looking man sitting at the desk was wearing a white outfit, somewhat similar to Aya's, although, unlike the red hat she had, he instead had a long-nosed red mask like the guards hanging on the side of his head. Behind him was a singular window allowing some sunlight into the room.

"Welcome, you're the human that Aya lobbied for being allowed into the village." Tenma said calmly "And the Moriya shrine maiden as well? What brings you here?"

"I've been told of situation, and John asked me to help in defeating the bone dragon."

"I see...that mountain goddess probably wants us to owe her one. How troublesome." Tenma sighed

"Kanako has nothing to do with this." John said with a surprisingly serious voice "Sanae is here because _I_ asked her. She could have declined, but she didn't."

"...I see. Well then, please John, fill us in on this 'bone dragon'."

"Right then I-"

"S-sorry I'm late!" came a voice bursting into the room. The girl in question had white hair, white ears, and white tail. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt, with a black skirt that ended with some red highlights at the bottom. On her head was a small red hat similar to Aya's. On her back were a shield with a red maple leaf and large scimitar-like sword.

"Ah, Momiji, I'm sorry, we almost started without you."

"It is no problem Lord Tenma...I take it this man is the human who found this beast I was told about?"

"Indeed, he was just about to go into detail about it. As the person who somehow missed it, I figured you'd want to know about it."

"Y-yes sir..." John couldn't help but notice that this Momiji girl seemed pretty down-trodden about that, it was almost like she'd let down someone immensely important to her.

"Right well, that thing out there is called a bone dragon. I've fought one before and I was hoping that you'd be willing to allow some extra troops to come along in subduing it."

"I see..." Lord Tenma said closing his eyes "Tell me, do you know where it came from exactly? A dead dragon, still moving around is unheard of."

"Well...the only place I've seen it before is a place called the Crystal Tower." John replied

"Crystal...Tower? I don't think I've ever heard of that before, and there's nothing like that in Gensokyo I'm sure."

"It's in a land far away from here."

"But then how did it get here? I didn't notice it at all, it didn't even reek of death." Momiji said

"That I don't know." John said with a shrug "All I know is that it's here now, and just leaving it alone is no good for anyone on the mountain."

"On this we agree, how many troops would we need to send out?" Tenma asked

"Well, if you'll allow Aya and Sanae to accompany me, that takes it down to twenty-one of your finest."

"Twenty-one? Really?" Lord Tenma said with a raised eyebrow "It's only a single dragon, and from what I heard when I sent Momiji out to confirm if it actually exists, it's not that big all things considered."

"You're right in that regard, however, it'll have a numbers advantage on its side if we don't go in with the right number of people."

"Numbers advantage?" Aya asked

"Yeah...it can _kind_ of summon the dead." John said with a nervous laugh

"You're kidding!" Tenma exclaimed, only to met with a blank look from John "You...aren't kidding."

"I wish I were."

"Dammit all...and considering how much hunting and such goes on in the mountains from us, it'll have more than a fair share of bodies to pull from."

"Something like that I guess. Though, when I fought it, it didn't have to worry about that. It just...summoned skeletons to attack."

"That...that's not possible." Sanae said sounding concerned "H-how are gonna do this then?"

"Easy, the sekeltons are extremely brittle, they'll go down easy enough." John said with a smug grin "We just cannot have the skeletons touch the dragon or the dragon die before the skeletons are dead."

"Why's that?" Tenma asked

"Well, if the skeletons touch the dragon, it'll...hmm...to put it bluntly, it'll suck the life out of us."

"That does sound bad...and if we kill the dragon first?"

"Then the skeletons will bum rush the dragon all at once and we are _not_ living through all that life drain at once, and if we do it'll be by the skin of our teeth."

"This is far more serious than anticipated. Very well, I will grant you twenty-one of our finest warriors. Is there anything specific you wish?"

"Er...excuse me Lord Tenma..." Momiji said "If you would allow it, I wish to help. It is my fault I did not notice this monster sooner, as such please allow me to correct this mistake by assisting in its extermination."

"Hmmm, very well."

"I don't mind it, the more help we have the better. I just wish the girls weren't mad at me, then I could call on them." John sighed

"Girls…?" Tenma said with a raised eyebrow

"Uh...nothing, problems at home that's all." John said rubbing his head awkwardly

"Ah I see, pissed off the wife I take it?" Tenma said chuckling

"Th-they aren't my wives yet!" John sputtered out

"They? Oh my...I haven't seen something like that in a long while. Though I do recall reading something in Ms. Shameimaru's paper about you getting planning to marry some women you work with. Oh right, speaking of...name your price."

"My what?" John said

"Your price. I believe that if what Ms. Shameimaru said is true, then you usually deal in favors, Originally you were to receive something small for the menial work I had you doing, but this is something far bigger than expected. To that end, I will see to it that you are justly rewarded. Let it never be said that we tengu do not give out proper rewards when they are warranted."

"Uh...well, I didn't really want anything? I just want to get rid of that monster before anyone, tengu or otherwise gets hurt."

"You are...far more kind than anticipated. I suppose then, I will simply do this: Should you prove successful in t this undertaking, then I will grant you permanent access to the tengu settlement."

"L-Lord Tenma! Are you sure about that? No human has ever set foot in-" Momiji started

"Furthermore...I will allow you and anyone working under you to conduct business with us...if you're willing."

"L-LORD TENMA?!" Momiji exclaimed

"Do not worry, for this man we can make an exception. Here he is laying his life on the line along our own warriors. This bone dragon is terrifying creature, much more so than anticipated, to that extent, something like this is a paltry reward when compared to what he's doing for us."

"I see...very well, as you wish Lord Tenma."

"Now then, I will consider this meeting adjourned, I will gather the other twenty warriors needed. We shall commence an attack on the creature at dawn. Any objections?"

"None here." John said

"Anyone else? If not, then you are all dismissed!"

"One thing Lord Tenma..." John said just realizing something

"Yes?"

"So when you said I can conduct more business after this...would you be willing to uh...not let any of the girls up the mountain? If only for a while?"

Looking at him with a knowing grin, Lord Tenma nodded "Of course. I'll make sure your women won't get up here to tear your head off."

Chuckling nervously, John left the building with the others in tow, he decided to head back to the shrine with Sanae, while Aya and Momiji would help with gathering up able-bodied soldiers to help out. At John's behest, he asked for a few healers if any were around. With a nod of agreement, he and Sanae flew off towards the shrine, where Suwako was waiting.

"So, how'd things go?" the frog-like girl asked once the two landed

"The tengu agreed to help. Hopefully we can take the bone dragon down without trouble." John said

"I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous now, especially after John explained what it could do."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Just raising the undead, you know that kind of thing." John said casually "We should be fine though. We've got Aya and the other tengu backing us up."

"I see, but just in case, you two should have one last night together in case either of you dies." Suwako said

"O-one last night?! I-I don't intend to die Lady Suwako and I'm not going t-to do _that_ with him!" Sanae said blushing

"Most people don't intend to die, but I'm just sayin' just in case that does happen, you'll want something to remember John by. A baby or two isn't-"

"I'm going inside!" Sanae shouted walking past her

"You've got to stop teasing her." John said sighing as he tried to hide his own blushing

"Maybe, but I got one bit of advice for you Son-in-Law." Suwako said looking at him

"Yeah what's that?"

"You better keep her safe." Suwako said suddenly sounding menacing "If she dies...if she gets hurt...I don't care where you run...I don't care who you go to. I don't care if I have to turn hell or heaven itself upside-down…I'll find you, and it won't be pretty when I do. Understand?"

Her voice was cold enough to cause John to freeze up for a second, he was so used to Suwako being cheerful and carefree, to see a legitimately intimidating side of her was quite unprecedented.

"Y-yeah, I understand." John muttered

"Good! Now go in there and give Sanae the night of her life! Really put the moves on her!" She replied, returning to her normal tone of voice, almost as if the last few seconds didn't even happen.

Sighing to himself, John walked inside, deciding to strike up some conversation with Sanae. The two had continued on talking about their experiences from the outside world, but with the battle with the bone dragon so close, Sanae couldn't help but ask about what other things he'd seen in Eorzea. While John had revealed to her that XIV was a game, she couldn't help but be enraptured with how he spoke of the place. He spoke as if it were very much real, but then, looking at the bracelet on his hand, perhaps it was? He'd explained to her that it allowed him to access the jobs from the game and he couldn't do that if he hadn't gone there in some capacity. Her train of thought was broken when he made mention of the goblins though.

"Wait...they fought over _cheese_?"

"Yeah, they did. It's a big deal for them, I won't even begin to understand why." John said shrugging his shoulders

"I...see. I have to admit I'm a bit jealous you can recount all this. I had thought the online games weren't worth getting into. Perhaps I should have given XI a shot all those years ago."

"Yeah, I feel the same, I've heard a lot of good things, though some of the XI people who migrated over were a pain in the ass."

"Really? How so?"

"All I'll say is, if you see someone who was really into XI, don't bring up Fenrir and how he's handled in XIV."

"I take it people weren't happy?"

"That's one way to put it. Internet rage and all that you know?"

"Ouch, sounds terrible."

"It is, and it's part of the reason why I never hang around the official forums."

The two continued on like that until Sanae had gone to prepare dinner. As usual once it was finished they were joined by Suwako and Kanako with the latter two making jokes and urging John and Sanae to get busy later on that night...even with the impending battle coming up.

"Lady Kanako, Lady Suwako _please_." Sanae said in a tired tone "Will you stop with this?"

"Why should we? It's only a matter of time, besides, you went out of your way to make a way better dinner than usual for John didn't you?" Suwako said with a smug grin

"I-I did no such thing!" She replied with a blush

"Really? Why did you seem so chipper then and I'm sure I saw you worry more than once about if he'd like it or not~."

"G-gah, that's...well...wouldn't you be worried about if your guest would like your food?"

"Well then, what do you think John?" Kanako asked

"It's...well I'll be honest, it's pretty great. I'd say this even gives Yuuka a run for her money." John said plainly "The fish is made just right, the rice is perfect, and the meat is cooked perfectly. I definitely could see someone wanting to come home to this every day."

His words caused Sanae to blush even harder as Suwako laughed

"And just think Son-in-Law you'll get all that in more when that little wedding of yours happens. Gotta admit it's kinda funny that we could end up with some ties to that moon princess and that vampire though." Suwako said

"Well, I suppose a big family wouldn't be all bad. Playing with the children could be quite fun, and having more hands around the shrine is always useful." Kanako said downing some food

"I can't help but feel the two of you are deciding my future for me." John said in a deadpan tone

"You make it sound like you find Sanae completely undesirable." Suwako retorted

"I-I didn't mean it like that! I mean, we've only known each other for a short time, jumping into marriage that fast is a bit much isn't it?"

"It is for you young folks anyway. Back in my day, when you found someone you liked, you didn't spend all this time going on dates and buying the other person things and then breaking things off only a month or two later. All of that came after you laid your feelings out in the open and got hitched, minus the breaking up part of course."Suwako said through a mouthful of food "Besides, and be honest Sanae, are any of the men of that village even _worth_ your time?"

"W-well...I suppose you're right in that regard." Sanae said with a defeated look, it was true, the men of the village were well...all pretty boring more or less. They had nothing interesting about them, the guards there were boring for sure, and none of them, not a single one had really been into any of her hobbies like anime or science. Hell, they couldn't even comprehend science when she tried explaining it to them. John more than met that criteria when compared to them.

"Look can we just...think about all this? Marriage isn't some decision you should make without serious thought." John said with a sigh

"That's funny coming from you. I heard that your marriage to those women was quite sudden." Kanako said smirking

"It was and I'm pretty sure if I attempted to back out, they'd skin me alive."

"That and you find the idea appealing."

"W-well I wouldn't..."

"It's okay, you're a young man, this kind of thing must be a dream come true for you...and really Gensokyo is the only place it could possibly work out."

"R-right..." John replied, he didn't want to admit that she was somewhat correct, especially after he'd seen the girls in the bath. That was a...well, it made the idea of being married to them a lot more appealing for sure.

Dinner continued without anymore joking at Sanae and John's expense and with the sun having long since set, he quickly bathed and went to bed early. Of course, with the idea of a fight coming up so soon, he couldn't exactly sleep, and late into the night, he heard the door to his room slide open.

"Er...John, are you awake?" Sanae whispered

"...Yeah, you couldn't sleep either?" John said sitting up

"Well...something like that. If it's okay with you, I was wondering something?"

"What's that?"

"Well um...I was a bit cold in my room and well...perhaps we could share a bed tonight to keep warm?"

A part of John wanted to scream, to shout 'what the hell are you saying' but perhaps it was because he was mentally exhausted or he just didn't care enough to do that, but all he replied with was a simple nod of affirmation.

Sanae, from what John could make out in the dark looked positively elated at the idea and scooted up close to him under the blanket. John had to admit that it did feel pretty nice to sleep with someone like this. Back home with the others, it usually just became a hodgepodge of bodies piled up together, but with just him and Sanae, he could feel the warmth of her body. The steady heaving of her breath and the rhythm of her heartbeat were enough to finally lull him to sleep, the same thing applying to Sanae as the two talked for a little bit, each attempting to comfort the other about the fight ahead before finally feeling tired enough to finally drift off to sleep.

Of course, this was all ruined in the morning when John woke up to see that he had his hands around Sanae's body, with her lower half pulled up against him. Needless to say her being so close triggered a certain reaction that he was none too proud of. Thankfully, Sanae hadn't woken up yet.

"Crap crap...gotta calm down." John muttered getting to his feet. A quick look outside showed that the sun had only barely come up, so he and Sanae weren't late thankfully. He quietly made his way out of the room after getting dressed, hoping to maybe splash some water on his face and calm down. But of course, things just couldn't go his way, and he ran into Suwako.

"Oh hey you're up and-oh boy..." Suwako said looking at his pants

"Looks like someone is happy. I'll go grab Sanae, maybe she can take care of that."

"W-wha? No, look this is a natural male thing and Sanae is sleeping and I managed not to wake her up and-"

"Wait, what do you mean you managed not to wake her up?" Suwako said before her mouth curled up into a smile

"Oh I see...I didn't think you'd two actually take my words to heart. Good on ya Son-in-Law."

"It's...we didn't do anything, she just was cold and so we talked for a bit and-"

"Cold? John, Sanae has a heated blanket."

"E-eh…?"

"Ya know, one of them blankets you can heat up to keep warm at night."

"But then she..."

"I think she just wanted to snuggle up with her husband-to-be." she teased

This revelation, caused John to blush a lot harder than expected. "I...but...she..."

"Have fun with the dragon~!" Suwako called out walking down the hall, leaving John to contemplate what all occurred.

As much as he wanted to figure out what possessed her to act that way, John pushed it out of his mind, it wasn't important now. What _was_ important was taking care of the bone dragon, he just needed to focus on that.

The sun began to peek over the mountain as John waited out in front of the shrine, Sanae finally appearing in front of him.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I don't usually wake up this early...and um...you left?"

"Uh yeah, sorry. I just uh...needed a walk." John lied

"Oh, I see. Well, let's get going." Sanae said taking to the skies with John following behind her, once they reached the entrance of the tengu village, the two of them could see Aya and Momiji standing in front of twenty other tengu behind them.

"Good to see you're here." Aya said as they touched down "I was afraid that we'd have to go on without you."

"Sorry to keep you waiting." John replied "Is this everyone? How many healers did we get?"

"Six I believe. Will that be enough?" Momiji asked

"That's perfect actually. Should we get going now?"

"I'd say so, we can explain the plan once we get there."

Nodding in agreement, John and the other tengu made their way to where the bone dragon resided. It was indeed in the same spot, having not moved the entire time. If one had seen it for the first time, they would probably have mistaken it for statue with how still it was.

"Ugh, it's hideous." One of the other tengu said

"Right, so here's the plan." John said floating in front of everyone. We'll need someone whose good at keeping the enemies attention. They'll keep the monster's attention on them, we'll beat on the dragon for a while, but once the skeletons appear we'll break off and kill them. Make sure the skeletons remain a good distance apart. Once they're all down, we'll kill the dragon. We should only have to repeat that process about two or three times.

"Er...why three times?" One of the tengu asked raising his hand

"It'll get back up at least three times." John stated matter-of-factly

" _WHAT?!_ "

"Hehe...yeah may have forgotten to mention that, but don't worry. If we stick to the plan then it's no problem at all. Now then, who wants to initiate?"

There were several looks among everyone present before Momiji boldly stepped forward. "I'll do it, I should have spotted this thing sooner, so I'll gladly be the first to go into battle to make up for it."

Nodding, John motioned for her to go ahead. The wolf girl wasted no time in flying towards the monster, ready to engage it. The bone dragon let out a loud roar as it saw Momiji barreling towards it, swung one of its massive claws at her, only for it to be deflected by her shield

"Alright everyone, lets get in there!" John exclaimed, the tengu all letting out battle cries as they joined the fray. John for his part landed on the ground, before making a decision to transform into something far more appropriate.

"Well it is a dragon...time to use the job that specializes in killing dragons." He muttered before a light engulfed him and he was now covered in black armor, that had several spiky protrusions on the forearm and shoulders. On his back was large spear that had a dazzling glow surrounding it. The Areadbhar, the dragoon relic weapon of 3.0 that had an item level of 270. This was the most powerful weapon in the game right now, and John was eager to test it out. All those off days spent grinding for it and the other relic weapons was about to come in handy.

He jumped into the fray (literally) as he began attacking the bone dragon's backside, the attack causing it to roar in pain, sparing Momiji a bombardment of the red and black mist it so often spat out.

"Keep it up Momiji!" John called out as one of the healers magically patched her wounds. The dragon swung it's tail, knocking some of the other tengu away as John managed to jump over it. Thankfully, it did minimal damage as the to them as they quickly got back to their feet, and continued attacking it.

"I-I think it's getting tired Momiji called out as she parried another of its attacks "It's movements are slowing!"

"Then that means..."

Sure enough as John turned around to take a look several skeletons began to appear almost out of thin air.

"Just as we discuss earlier everyone! Kill them far away from one another!" John shouted as loudly as he could. Backing off from the dragon, he jumped over to a skeleton that Sanae had just attacked, jamming his spear into it.

"Hanging in there Sanae?" He said

"I'm doing okay, but we can't stop now!"

Nodding in agreement the two split off from one another, killing the skeletons one by one as they slowly made their way towards the bone dragon. Things were going well as the skeletons were well spaced out and they were all dead…except for one that'd managed to slip through and was dangerously close to the dragon. Too close for any of them to defeat it.

"B-brace yourselves!" John called out as the skeleton touched the dragon, it instantly was absorbed into its body as a sickly red and black aura filled the air.

"I-IT HURTS!" Aya cried out, doubling in pain

"It feels like it's sucking the life out of me!" One of the tengu yelled

"K-keep it together, Kill the dragon now and we can patch ourselves up!"

Though many of them felt sluggish from that attack, they continued attacking the dragon until it finally keeled over, the rest of the skeletons getting back up.

"O-okay everyone, down the rest of these so we don't have to suffer anymore attacks like that!" John called exclaimed

Having felt the brunt of that previous attack, the tengu did not let a single skeleton slink by as they killed them all.

"G-good work. Healers, top everyone off, as much as you can! Momiji, how ya holding up?"

"B-barely!" she replied blocking more of the mist with her shield

"Hang on, I've got you!" Aya yelled swinging her fan and blowing the mist away. "Healers get to it! We need to get back to fighting form!"

The healers did as told and scrambled to heal the wounded back up to fighting form. As the tengu became more invigorated, they continued attacking the dragon as it thrashed around in attempts to hit them while also trying to focus on Momiji who was constantly heckling it from the front. Like before the skeletons spawned again, began moving towards the dragon.

"Just like before!" John called out "Don't let a single one through!"

Roars of acknowledgment echoed throughout the area as the skeletons began to fall one by one. Sanae and Aya had doubled their efforts on killing the things as fast as possible, and when one had managed to break through all the fighting, John was quick to jump to its location and down it before it could get any further.

The young man had to admit that he was working up quite the sweat from the fight. Doing a 24-man raid in real life was far more troublesome than he thought it would be. Still, they had one more cycle to go before the enemy was well and truly dead. As the dragon died a second time, the skeletons all jumped to their feet, starting to make their way towards the bone dragon's corpse. The group fought on downing each skeleton as fast as they could. Once they had done that the bone dragon once again rose to its feet.

"T-this is the final assault right?" Momiji wheezed as she readied her blade again.

"Yeah! Just keep attacking it, no more skeletons should appear. If anything shows up, I want a couple of you other guys to hold them off okay?!"

"YES SIR!" John heard behind him

'Sir?' they were calling him 'sir' now? Eh, he'd just chalk it up to them getting caught in the heat in the moment. Whatever the case, John continued his attack on the dragon, using the various lance techniques he'd learned to try and fell the best as quickly as possible. A loud scream was heard as one of the tengu laid eyes on a large creature whose entire body was an eye, with two small wings protruding from the side, with a medium length tail. It's teeth razor sharp and looking as if it'd could easily rip through flesh and bone.

"W-what they are these-gah!" He grunted as one of them attacked him

"Keep those things occupied! If they're here, then that means this dragon is nearly dead! We defeat the dragon, we defeat them!"

"YES SIR!"

Again with the sir thing?

A few of the tengu had taken to distracting the monsters, drawing their attention away from the rest of the combatants who had begun to attack the dragon. Momiji had continued with doing her part, distracting the dragon so that it didn't turn around and begin wantonly attacking anyone in his way, she blocked an attack from his claws as she swiped at him with her shield before slashing her sword across its face.

"Please tell me this is the last time it'll get up!" Momiji wheezed out, she was becoming quite tired now, and the only reason she was able to continue going was thanks to the tengu healers who were keeping her topped off, but even with that, just as quickly as she was healed up, she'd waste the energy on this thing.

"Just a bit more! Sanae, Aya, really pour it on!" John called out

The two women began using some of their most deadly attacks, Sanae, even conjuring up what looked to be an image of Kanako as she slammed a large wooden beam into the dragon, causing it to roar in pain. Aya had sent another gust of wind towards it, not only dealing damage, but blowing away some more of the mist it shot out of its mouth. If things kept up like this, then they wouldn't need to worry about things getting worse. And then John heard an all too familiar noise…

 **SHING**

"What the hell…?" John muttered to himself, if he was right, the sound he just heard was the sound of the limit break being ready. He wasn't sure how that had occurred at first, but then again looking around him, these was a party of 24 people total. Under his helmet, he let a smile creep across his lips, he couldn't believe he was about to do this.

He focused as he could feel energy begin to swell in his body. Above John's head, a swirl of azure energy shaped in the head of a dragon illuminated the area causing everyone to stop and stare, even the dragon had turned around to look at what was about to befall it. Raising his lance high, John leaped into the air, flying down at breakneck speeds before landing a hit directly on its neck. The monster being enveloped in the blue energy as it let out a death cry before falling to the ground dead. As it disappeared in a poof of black smoke, the other monsters the tengu had been fighting had instantly disappeared, leaving the other warriors to sigh in relief.

"What the hell was _that_?" Aya asked appearing next to John

"Dragonsong Dive." John replied casually

"Why didn't you do that sooner?!" Sanae exclaimed from behind him

"Sanae, you don't just waste a limit break at the start of a battle...well not in this instance anyway. Besides, it takes a while for the energy to build up to allow me to pull that kind of stunt off."

"I...see. Well is the dragon truly dead?"

"I hope so." Momiji said heaving "I...don't think I want to do something like that ever again. Keeping the enemy's attention like that is quite taxing."

"But hey, you pulled it off, and that's what's important! You'd make a fine tank I'm sure." John said patting Momiji on the back

"A fine what…?"

"N-never mind, I just mean to say you did great. Let's get a headcount, make sure no one is too hurt."

The others agreed with him, and the next hour or so was spent with John and the other healers making sure that the tengu warriors who had joined to help out were okay. While there were no casualties, that widespread attack had definitely done a number on everyone. Needless to say that they were all tired and John could feel exhaustion creeping up on him as well.

Once that was finished, they all returned to the tengu capital where Lord Tenma had been waiting

"It's good to see you all back." Lord Tenma said calmly "How did things go?"

"There were no casualties my lord!" Momiji replied with a tired smile "However, we're all quite tired, fighting that thing was a lot more troublesome than expected...we didn't expect it to revive two more times after we killed it."

"It did what?!" Lord Tenma

"Yes... _someone_ forgot to mention that little tidbit of information." She said giving a pointed look towards John.

"S-sorry, I forgot to mention that. But it all turned out well enough." He said bashfully

"That it did. As per our agreement John Graham, from this moment on, you are considered an honorary member of the tengu. You are free to come and go as you please, as is the same for anyone under your employ. And don't worry, I'll make sure that personal agreement between the two of us is kept...we can't have you getting dying on us after all."

With that Lord Tenma walked off, leaving many of the villagers and other soldiers to whisper at the proclamation that Lord Tenma had made. For John though, he was just tired. They'd only been fighting for a few hours, but he felt as if he could sleep for the entire day. Since there was nothing else he was needed for, he decided to do exactly that, heading back to the shrine with Sanae and falling asleep for the rest of the day.

The next few days had been nothing too out of the ordinary. John had decided to continue helping out the tengu, mainly sticking with Aya and gathering intel in case any more strange enemies showed up. Thankfully, all was quiet, which for Aya was a good thing, as she already worked out an article highlighting the encounter with the bone dragon. Interestingly, there were no fantastical elements here, but instead the article was pretty factually solid, paying respects to all who were involved, even if there was a bit more emphasis on the tengu who helped out, John couldn't find it in himself to blame Aya for that.

Of course, Aya had spread the paper around and when she hit the human village, Kogasa and the others had heard about it, and attempted to get through to where John was. Thankfully, Lord Tenma really had kept his end of the deal and they were stone-walled from passing through. While the group of women were powerful together, they couldn't hope to beat the sheer numbers that the tengu had on their side and so were forced to retreat. Upon hearing that John couldn't help but shudder in fear...perhaps it was best that he wait it out just a tiny bit longer? With that having happened it was rainy morning when he'd decided to talk with Kanako.

"So John, how have things been so far?" Kanako asked

"Fine for the most part, but man I miss my computer, I've been falling behind in raiding and I can't take it anymore!" John exclaimed

"Er...right..." Kanako said with a nervous chuckle "W-well, I've word from the kappa that they could use some help. They're at the river at the base of the mountain, so why not go help them out?"

"I guess that'll help me get my mind off things." John sighed "What exactly do they need help with?"

"Oh nothing too crazy I'm sure. Probably just want some extra hands for whatever new machine they're working on."

"Wait...they work on machines?" John asked perking up

"Indeed, the kappa are probably the most technologically advanced group in Gensokyo."

At this, John's smile grew wide, maybe they'd have a computer he could use? He wouldn't know just hanging around here.

"Alright then, next stop is the kappa." John said grinning madly

* * *

 **You know it's kind of funny now that I think back. The bone dragon in XIV really is a simple fight when you get down to it. Nothing notable outside of the skeletons spawning happens. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I'm not sure if I'll end up getting a third chapter out in such a short time frame, doing so twice sort of exhausted me. But hey, who can say if that'll be the case eh? Thanks for reading and I hope you've been enjoying the story so far. Oh yeah, and in case I end up not putting anything out closer to the 25th. Merry Christmas and have a good holiday!**


	12. Chapter 12: Below the Earth

**Hey there everybody! Look at this, I totally didn't take 3 months this time! See? Haha, it's a new record for me! That aside though, sorry for taking so long, I actually ran into a bit of a slump while writing this chapter, but hey, it's here now and that's what matters right? I suppose I'll try to be a bit faster with getting the next chapter out, but good lord, I don't think I have it in me to do some of what I did back in December. Also though it's March, I'll still say Merry Christmas and all that. It just feels like the right thing to do. Anyways enough rambling from me enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

"What do you _mean_ you don't have a computer?!" John roared as he shook a girl wearing a blue dress vigorously. If he were a bit more rational, he'd probably note how funny it was that she had so much blue on. Heck, even her hair and eyes were blue. The only piece of clothing she had on that wasn't blue was a green cap with a white wispy symbol on it.

"I-I told you I don't know what that is? What do you want anyway?!" The girl shouted pushing John off of her.

Sighing in defeat, the young man could only calm himself and move on to why he was actually supposed to be here.

"Sorry. I'm John Graham, I'm the human staying at the Moriya Shrine."

"Oh so you're the one Momiji has been talking about!"

"Momiji has spoke about me?"

"Yeah, she talked about how you led her and some tengu to kill an undead dragon or something like that?"

"Bone Dragon." John corrected

"Yeah that. Anyway, I'm Nitori Kawashiro, and I need some extra hands for something I'm working on. It's nothing hard, I just need you to lug around some stuff while I work."

"That's all, you don't want me to help out with the actual machine?"

"No thanks, it's more than likely way above what you're used to working with."

"Oh...right then." John said holding back from insulting her, the haughtiness with which she spoke definitely rubbed him the wrong way, but he didn't want to go and start off on the wrong foot. Besides, maybe she just misspoke or it really _was_ something he really didn't have any idea about?

"So where's your work space anyway?" John asked

"I'm glad you asked! Now tell me, how long can you hold your breathe?" Nitori asked

"Hold my breathe? I dunno...maybe a couple minutes?"

"That'll do."

Before he could say anything else, Nitori grabbed him by the hand and dove into the nearby river. John didn't know what was happening, all he could feel was Nitori holding him tightly as she swam surprisingly fast through the water. He could feel parts of his body bouncing off of a rock here and there, but just as he could feel himself hitting the limit on holding his breathe, the two of them were now on dry land at the mouth of a cave.

"Uh, what's this?" John asked as he dried the water from his eyes

"Oh, this is just the entrance to the Kappa settlement. We're relatively safe since you have to travel through the water if you want to get here. Follow me, I'll show you to my workshop."

Trailing behind her, John could only stare in awe at the kappa's 'settlement'. In truth, it wasn't a settlement at all. It looked to be a steampunk like city more than anything. The buildings seemed to be a bit more modern, there were some that were clearly made of metal instead of the usual wood and off in the distance, John saw something that caught him entirely off guard.

"Excuse me Nitori, but is that a freaking _tank_ over there?" John asked

"You bet! Though that one is merely for display, we have a few more laying around as well, though they haven't seen use in a while."

"What do you even have tanks for?"

"Oh, we'll only ever use them if there's like a big youkai war or something. Hopefully, they'll be enough to scare the enemy in submission."

"I-I see." John said with a nervous chuckle, he had to wonder just what kind of enemy they'd ever end up fighting that'd require them to bring out weapons like this.

As the two continued walking through the kappa settlement, John noticed that he was getting several stares from other kappa. He didn't say anything, but the fact that he was being stared at like a zoo animal did bother him just a bit.

"I take it the other kappa don't really see humans too often?" John said as they rounded the corner and stopped in front of a small building.

"Well that's one thing, but then there's the fact that you've got a reputation as well." Nitori sighed

"A reputation?"

"Remember, you killed that dragon. Word has most definitely gotten around, especially here on the mountain. I won't be surprised if the other parts of Gensokyo find out soon as well. What you did is no small feat. You managed to get access to the tengu village, then you saved them from a potentially extreme threat, that kind of thing doesn't go unnoticed. You just better hope the Hakurei shrine maiden doesn't come knocking, or that magician friend of hers."

"You mean Reimu and Marisa? I've met them already."

"Ouch...I'm sorry you got hurt."

"Huh...hurt?"

"The Hakurei shrine maiden has a penchant for...punching first and asking questions later so to speak...I know from experience." she said rubbing her shoulder as if she'd felt an old wound

"Well uh...she didn't attack me, she did ask a lot of questions of though...now Marisa and I had a more...troublesome meeting."

"What happened?"

John explained about what transpired between himself and Marisa and how thanks to her he was basically trapped in the Scarlet Devil Mansion until he managed to get the stolen books back. At first, Nitori could only shake her head in condolences, but once John mentioned how he managed to get back at her by stealing back even more books, she couldn't help but let out a laugh at the entire thing.

"Not bad, good on you for getting her back. Now then, let's move on to why you're here." she said taking him inside and into what looked to be a garage. Sitting inside was what appeared to be the early workings of a bus. The bottom half was completely done with wheels and what appeared to be an engine sticking out of some framework, but there were no seats and it pretty much looked like a metal skeleton with some wheels attached to it.

"So uh...what are you working on a bus for?" John asked

"Oh, you actually know what a bus is? Well, you are an outsider, so I guess it's only natural you'd know at least _something_."

And there she goes with the uppity attitude…

"I'm working on this thing to try and start up some bus tours around Gensokyo. The humans generally stick to the village and only the village, so they're worldview is pretty limited. I think these bus tours will help me get some more cash to help fund future projects. It's just that moving all this metal is tough, so that's what I need of you. Perfect for someone like you right?"

"...Sure." John replied, a part of him wanted to go off on Nitori, it was clear that she was making assumptions about his intelligence, and assuming that he was mostly dumb muscle and nothing more. It reminded him of the 30-50 monk quests in FFXIV, within that questline was an NPC named Erik, and he was extremely condescending in the same vein as Nitori, always insulting your character's intelligence in nearly every interaction, regardless of what other jobs you may have leveled. It was honestly pissing John off the more he thought about it.

"Alright, first things first. Get me the sprocket wrench from the back." Nitori said "It's the one about this big." she made a motion with her hands to which John quietly complied, heading to the back of the workshop and grabbing what she needed. The next few hours would continue this way as Nitori had John bring her several things as she worked, while John would simply sit around and watch her work.

It was really boring for him, so much so that he decided to try and tinker with the rook turret from his machinist job. A quick transformation, and he had the small thing sitting in front of him as he looked it over. To his surprise, he understood the inner-workings of it perfectly as he began to take some tools and tinker with it. It had to be the job crystal making things easier for him, as he wasn't a mechanic back home.

"Maybe if I adjust this then I can increase efficiency by 12%..." he muttered to himself

"What's that thing?" Nitori said eyeing the floating turret up and down

"It's an automated rook turret. It helps me in battle by periodically opening fire upon the enemy, it also has a hypercharge ability which allows it to tear through enemies with increased firepower for a short while while also leaving them more vulnerable to attacks." John answered back "There's also the bishop variant, that is meant to deal with groups of enemies at once by eliciting an electrical shock within a certain radius."

"Huh...and it just floats there while doing all that?" Nitori asked rubbing her chin

"Yeah, it's pretty useful actually and pairs pretty well with a ninja's trick attack and-oh uh, sorry, I'm rambling."

Nitori for her part paid him no mind and continued looking at the turret, a grin growing ever wider on her face.

"John, you're a genius!" She exclaimed suddenly

"I am?" He replied with a raised eyebrow

"That thing floats right! So I just thought...instead of making a regular old bus tour...we'll make a _flying_ bus tour!" she exclaimed excitedly

"Well, I guess that could be cool, I don't think the humans in the village know how to fly."

"No they don't and that'll be the draw! Being able to see Gensokyo from so high up will definitely be able to spark interest! Now how does this thing stay afloat exactly?"

John wasted no time in explaining the inner workings of the rook turret, Nitori listening intently as she began taking notes on everything he said.

"So basically, it works by using magic from the environment to keep afloat. Hmmm…I think I can make that work...all I need is a proper regulation device so it doesn't overload..." Nitori was beginning to become lost in thought again, leaving John sitting there looking at her, before he could say anything, another kappa girl entered the room.

"Hey Nitori, we need you to check out the fires, they're a bit higher than usual."

"The fires? Oh great, that can only mean that the hell raven is sleeping again...and frankly I hate going down there, way too hot..."

"Well someone's got to do it, and you're the only one with the heat resistant suit."

Nitori let out a sigh before her eyes trailed over to John, that same grin as before appearing on her face.

"Oh Jooooohn~!" Nitori said in a singsong voice "I have a job for yoooooou~!"

"Denied." John said flatly

"H-hey, come on! Hear me out first!"

"Nope."

"Ugh...look, all I need you to do is go down into the fires and wake the hell raven up. It's a simple job and I'll even loan out my heat suit to you."

"Still don't want to do it." John replied

"Ugh...fine, since you did give me a good idea, I'll split some of the earnings I get from the bus tours with you...in fact, I'll even allow you to 'work' for me and get some positive press from the villagers."

"But I already have more than enough of that."

"True, but more never hurts right?"

"What are you talking about?" he said with a sigh, really, John did not like where this conversation was headed.

"Well, what if during the bus tours there's a…youkai attack? It sure would be good if someone such as yourself or whoever works with you just happened to be there wouldn't it?"

"So let me get this straight: You're saying that for going down into these 'fires' you'll have staged youkai attacks, which either myself or one of my friends will 'fend off' just to make us look good?"

"Hey good, you followed along pretty well!"

"Isn't that kind of dishonest?"

"It's just business. You do know that that goddess you're staying with does the same for her tramway right?"

"You're kidding right?"

"Nope, it works out for everyone really. The youkai get to come off as scary, the goddess gets her faith, and the humans don't recklessly attempt to explore and possibly encroach on youkai's lands."

"Huh...well, I guess that's fine then? I mean, there _is_ a bit of logic to what you're saying at least."

"There ya go! Now I'll grab the heat suit and we can head on over."

Nitori moved to the back of her work area and after a few moments of rummaging she pulled out a gray suit with a zipper that ran all the way to the bottom. Tossing it to John, she had him put it on before they made their way over to the 'fires'.

Or what could only be seen as a massive freaking hole in the ground.

"Nitori...what the hell is this?" John asked flatly

"The entrance to the Hell of Blazing Fires of course!"

"The _what_ of Blazing Fires?!" John exclaimed

"Look, it's easy, just head down there and wake up the hell raven. Normally she'd attack you, but that shouldn't be the case since you have that suit on. She'll probably just think you're me and leave you be for the most part. After that, she'll open the skylight and things will cool off. I can feel the heat getting worse by the second so you should hurry along already."

It was true too, even with this suit on, John could feel that things in the kappa settlement were a lot more warmer than before, almost insufferably so.

"Are you sure this suit will actually work? I mean-"

Before John could say anything he was pushed off the edge and was quickly falling down

"I'll see you later~!" Nitori's rapidly fading voice called out to him

"Crap crap...S-Scholar!" John yelled in panic as he continued falling, he managed to catch himself, hanging in the air for a few moments as he caught his breathe. Oh Nitori was going to pay for this, of that he'd make sure. But for now, since he'd already fallen down, he may as well keep going. Though he couldn't see the bottom yet, and it made John wonder just how far down this place really went.

The answer as he'd found out literally 3 hours later was far. Very, _very_ far. So far in fact, John was sure that'd probably gone well below the earth at this point. Well, it was called The Hell of Blazing Fires, so that much should be expected. Having finally reached the bottom, John was now surrounded by flames. It was so hot down here, he could feel himself sweating even with the heat suit on.

"Christ this is awful..." John muttered "Okay, all I have to do is fine this hell raven and I can get out of here..."

He began looking around through the dancing flames, attempting to find someone who fit the description. To his luck, far off nestled on a little alcove of land sat a woman who was clearly dozing off, just as Nitori had said. Flying over to her, upon closer inspection she had long, dark brown hair, wore a white shirt with a bright red eye in the middle of her...rather large chest and a green skirt to match the green ribbon that tied up her hair. She was also wearing a cape that looked to have a sort of space pattern on the inside that John was only able to see thanks to her wings holding it open. The biggest thing of note about her though was the odd looking like cylinder thing on her right arm and the stone like material that covered her right leg. Wanting to be rid of this heat, John stopped examining her and began to lightly shake her in the hopes she'd wake up.

"Huh...wha...what time is it?"

"Er...are you the hell raven? Can you uh...open the skylight?" John asked

"Huh...O-oh! You're that kappa girl! The skylight…?" she replied looking around at all the fire "Oh, I must have dozed off again, sorry !"

Getting to her feet, she flew towards the middle of the area before pointing her cylinder arm up towards the sky. A brilliant light shot out from it, traveling all the way up before the area began to cool down significantly. It was still pretty hot, but the temperature had definitely dropped.

"And done! Thanks for waking me up !"

John merely nodded, not wanting to give away that he was in fact not Nitori. If he revealed himself, she may end up attacking him or something and he really didn't need that right now.

"Oh right! Lady Satori said that should thank you properly next time you wake me up like this." The girl said clapping her hands together, "Follow me !"

Feeling as if he had no choice in the situation, John followed behind her. They were heading up again, but this time it was out of a different hole that lead into what appeared to be a courtyard that was filled with a surprising amount of flowers that appeared to be well looked after.. Looking to his right, John could see that this led into a mansion. Really, what was it with Gensokyo and so many of the residents residing in mansions? Following behind the raven girl, the two walked through the doors and into the hallway. There were numerous stained glass windows and the floor was surprisingly maintained as well. John was led into the kitchen, where a girl wearing a light blue shirt and a pink shirt with short purple hair stood with a cup in hand. The oddest thing about her was an eye that was on her chest...and how it turned and stared at John and the hell raven as she took a sip.

"Ah, Lady Satori! Look, it's ! I'm going to reward her for waking me up again!"

"I see...that's good Utsuho, you remembered what I told you." She said calmly "However...you aren't Nitori are you?"

"Oh Crap..." John said out loud

"It's not ?! L-Lady Satori get back!" Utusho said jumping in front of her master and pointing her cylinder arm at John

"H-hold on, don't shoot! I'm not Nitori but I was sent here by her!" John said unzipping the suit and tossing it to the side.

"Who are you?!" Utsuho growled not taking her eyes off of John

"I'm John Graham, I was sent here by Nitori like I said!"

"So _you're_ the one...Utsuho, stand down." Satori commanded

"B-but Lady Satori..."

"Stand down...I actually have something I wish to speak about with this man."

Utsuho eyeing John warily, puts her arm down, while John stares at her confused

"You want to talk to me about something? What's that?"

"Follow me, Utsuho, be a dear and bring us some tea would you?"

"Yes Lady Satori..."

Leaving her behind, Satori led John out of the kitchen, the entire time, she kept looking at him from time to time, in fact, she was practically staring at him the entire walk towards the small area they finally arrived at a small office.

"Please take a seat." Satori said as she sat behind the desk, John did as told and took a seat in the chair sitting in front of the desk.

"Before we begin I have one question." Satori said calmly

"Shoot." John replied instantly

"What are you?"

John gave her a sidelong look "I'm sorry...what?"

"What are you? Do you know what my race is known for?"

"Uh...no?"

"We Satori, yes, my name is the same as my race in general, mother and father weren't good with names. Anyway, my race are known to be able to read the minds of other people that aren't of the same race as us."

"Really? That's pretty cool!" John said with a chuckle

"That's...not how I would put it, but thank you."

"To answer your question, I'm human. Nothing more than that."

"Is that so? But when I try to read your mind...everything is jumbled, there are at least a dozen voices thinking different things all at once. I have to focus pretty hard to even begin reading you."

"A dozen voices...maybe it's because of this?" John said holding up the bracelet that held his job stones in it. Satori took a closer look at it, her eyebrow raising as she stared at it.

"That's interesting...the voices are coming from those crystals. Just what on earth did you do to imbue part of your being in them?"

"That's...kind of a long story. Let's move on now, what do you want from me?"

Satori eyed him for a moment, but decided not to press him any further. "Very well, I am aware that you run a business that handles requests regardless of if someone is a youkai or human."

"That's right...but how the hell do you know about me?"

"The tengu actually deliver the paper here as well. I've very much wanted to speak to you for a while now as I have a request. The problem is well...the humans would not take kindly to one such as me appearing out of nowhere. And you saw how Utsuho gets, sending her there would probably not be the wisest choice."

"And so, what is it you want from me then?" John asked crossing his arms

"I would like for you to watch my home for a few days." Satori said

"What...that's it? House sitting?" John asked in surprise "I was expecting something a bit more out there."

"N-no, that's all I want...you see, there are a group of oni that have been having constant parties at night and they're so loud I can't get any sleep. I've been wanting to take some time away from home in order to finally relax."

"Okay...why haven't you just asked them to take it easy with the parties?"

"They're oni. Asking them to stop is nearly impossible without getting wrapped up into one of their silly challenges." She replied with a deadpan look "Can you do it? I'll be sure to give you proper compensation."

"Well, I guess I can, how many days do you plan to be gone?"

"10 days at most. I just really need some proper rest." The tiredness in her eyes was far more more noticeable now, so much so that John couldn't help but agree to her request.

"Fine, I can do some house sitting, but I'll need to let Sanae know where I am."

"Sanae from the Moriya shrine? Do not worry, I can have Rin send word to her that you'll be working for me for a while."

"Thanks, what duties do I have to attend to while you're out?"

"Oh nothing much, just keep the pets fed and make sure Utsuho is awake to keep the fires from getting too hot. Everything else should be self-sufficient for the most part. I'll make sure they know not to harm you."

"Alright then, I guess I'll make myself at home?"

"That would be ideal."

The next few hours were spent with John being shown around the Earth Palace by Satori and Utsuho who had returned a little while later, the entire time giving him info about old hell, the fires, and what tasks her pets had assigned to them. Utsuho for her part was pretty saddened to see her master going on a trip for a little while, but she promised to help John out as much as she could (so long as he gave her some extra helping of food on the side) before returning to her work. Once that was done, it wasn't long before Sanae showed up and tried to convince him that he shouldn't hang around since the underground youkai were pretty dangerous. Of course, he declined, telling her that he'd already accepted the task, and he wasn't about to give up the job.

"Ugh fine...but I'm staying with you." Sanae said with a huff

"Really? I'll be fine on my own." John said

"No you won't! This place is dangerous and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you got hurt."

"But what about Suwako and Kanako, won't they get worried?"

"Don't worry about that. I can commune with them at another time and let them know what's going on."

"Well alright...what should we do first then?"

"Don't worry about that!" came a voice from behind them. What greeted them was a cat girl with two tails, two pairs of ears and wearing a dark green outfit, smiling at them from ear to ear.

"Er...who are you?"

"I'm Rin Kaenbyou, but please just call me Orin. I'm one of Lady Satori's pets and I'll be sure to help you out as much as I can!"

"Great, so...what do you do? I know that some of the other animals guard the gates and all that."

"Oh, I take corpses to the fires, helps keep them nice and warm." she stated casually

A part of John wanted to be surprised, but really, considering that this place was apparently old hell as Satori had told him, he wasn't surprised that some of the denizens of this area had some weird jobs they performed. After all, they are youkai…

"Right well, you just keep doing what you're doing Rin, I appreciate the help."

"That's no problem, why not go see the ancient city? The youkai down here won't harm you if you're under the protection of Lady Satori."

"That sounds like a good idea. What do you think Sanae?"

"I wouldn't be against it, but I've never really been here long enough to explore the city."

"Then I'll come with you and show you around!" Rin said with an energetic smile "Come on, let's go!"

Walking out of the palace, the trio exited the gate as a couple of dog girls bowed at them, nearly falling over as they seemed to be tired.

"We'll be back soon guys, don't worry, try to get in a quick power nap while we're gone." Rin said as she continued leading the way. As they arrived in the ancient city John took note of the buildings and their traditional Japanese style. The streets were lined with lanterns to help keep things illuminated, but the most striking thing so far were the numerous horned humanoids that walked the streets. Many of them staring at John and Sanae as they looked around.

"Jeez, I feel like I'm a zoo animal or something." John muttered as he tried to keep from locking eyes with any of the other townspeople.

"Well, you two definitely stick out, the oni down here haven't seen humans in a long time and the last two to show up were Reimu and Marisa. Not to mention you John with those odd clothes you have on." Rin said pointing at him

"What's so odd about my clothing? It's pretty standard stuff back home. Just some jeans and a shirt..."

"Oh yeah...looking at your face a bit more, you're definitely an outsider. Or well, you don't look Japanese at least, that might have something to do with it too."

The three continued on as Orin pointed out some other notable places, like a shopping district (even though no one bought anything down here) as well as a few statues of some youkai heroes. As the tour was finishing up, John began to hear a lot of loud noise reverberating throughout the entire city.

"What the hell is that?!" John said as his voice began to drown out from all the noise

"IT'S THE ONI! THEY'RE THROWING ANOTHER PARTY!" Orin screamed at the other two

"YOU'RE KIDDING, _THIS_ IS WHAT SATORI HAD TO DEAL WITH?! NO WONDER SHE WANTED TO TAKE SOME TIME AWAY!

"I-IS THERE ANYWAY TO MAKE THEM STOP?!" Sanae hollered now at the top of her lungs

"I DOUBT IT, UNLESS YOU'RE RARING FOR A FIGHT!"

John sighed as he continued holding his hands to his ears. Looks like he was going to have to get into a brawl, there's no way he could sleep during this. He had to wonder how _anyone_ could sleep during this at all and how Satori had managed to hold out for so long. Making his way towards the center of all the noise with Sanae and Orin in tow, the three were now at the center of the city and the amount of oni partying was staggering. From the streets to the rooftops there were oni everywhere, some were drinking, some were dancing, others were singing (horribly off-key) loudly, and some were playing instruments. It was a cacophony of singing, booze, and laughter that under normal circumstances probably wouldn't be all that out of place. The issue here is that when it's a bunch of oni things tend to go a bit overboard.

"H-HOW DO WE FIND WHOEVER IS IN CHARGE?!" John yelled to Orin

"I DON'T KNOW. YUUGI HAS TO BE AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE!" She hollered back

Looking around, John took notice of a bunch of barrels. No doubt by the look of them, they were positively filled with booze, and the other oni were far too busying partying for him to even get their attention properly. That meant there was only one thing to do to try and get them to stop for a moment to get their attention.

"Black Mage." He said transforming into his black mage garb, as he held his pointed his staff at the barrels.

"J-John what are you doing?!" Sanae exclaimed as she looked at him

"H-he wouldn't!" Orin said watching in disbelief at what was unfolding in front of her

John focused on the barrels as they ignited in flames a few moments later. The young man having used Fire II on them. The problem here is that the booze was far more flammable than expected and the resulting firestorm had sent a pillar of flame flying into the sky.

"Ah crap, I didn't think it'd be that bad..." John muttered to himself as some of the oni began to panic and flee

Before he could use some ice magic to quell the inferno, a sudden gust of wind shot towards the fire, putting the flames out with ease.

"Alright, who set my sake on fire?" said a woman with long blonde hair as she walked towards the center of the commotion.

"It was him!" said a random party-goer

 _Thanks a lot asshole…_ John thought as he locked eyes with the woman.

"Yeah, that was me, uh...sorry." John said

The woman stepped closer, allowing him to get a better look at her. She wore a surprisingly plain white shirt. Her eyes were a striking red color, sharing the same color as the singular horn that protruded from her head. Her wrists and ankles had manacles on them, though they were broken, making it look like she'd ripped them off of whatever was holding her. All that aside though, there were two(Or three depending on who you ask) things that stood out to John. One was well…

 _BOING_

She was pretty stacked. Probably the biggest woman he'd seen in Gensokyo so far and he had to avert his gaze somewhat as she sauntered over. Another was the semi-transparent skirt she had on. John was pretty sure he could just _almost_ make out her-

"Just where are you looking John?" Sanae asked sweetly, though John could feel some ulterior meaning in her words

"Er...uh, nowhere in particular. Honest."

"Okay, just checking~!"

"Start talking, why'd you wreck my drinks?" The woman asked

"Well uh...who is she?" John asked looking at Orin

"That's Yuugi Hoshiguma, she's pretty much the boss of the oni down here. One of the Four Devas."

"Right er...Yuugi, I just couldn't think of a better way to get everyone's attention."

"So your idea of getting everyone's attention was to cause a firestorm in the middle of a crowded area?"

"Well uh..." John stammered

"That's...FRIGGIN' HILARIOUS!" Yuugi roared with laughter "Oh man, you've got some balls on you. I like that in a person! What's your name?"

"Um...John Graham?"

"Huh...kinda weird. That a foreign name?"

"Pretty much yeah."

"Well who cares? HEY EVERYBODY!" Yuugi said whipping around to the crowd of Oni "This is John Graham, this dude wanted my attention so bad he nearly set us all on fire!"

"Uh...I didn't mean to do that?" John said sheepishly

"Aw who cares, it was a hell of a stunt, especially for a human! Most other Oni would snap you in two for something like that, but you did it without a second thought. So with that being the case, tonight we party in your honor!"

The other oni roared in unison as the party began to pick up speed again, with Yuugi chortling the entire time.

"W-wait wait, that's not what I came here for!" John said causing her to turn to him

"What do you mean? You got my attention, what more could you want?"

"Look, Yuugi. I can tell you really like to party." John started

"And drink!" Yuugi added smiling

"Yes...and drink, but um...could you maybe quiet it down a bit? I'm covering for Satori and the reason she left is because of all the noise you guys make with the constant parties."

"Oh, she really went and took a vacation? Well...I'll tell her what I told you when she asked me to stop as well: I'll stop, but only if you can beat me in a contest."

"Contest?" Sanae asked

"Yeah, see, normally I'd be happy to throw down with ya. Fighting things out is a good outlet to decide on things."

 _I highly doubt that_. John thought

"But see you're under that Satori's protection and the last thing I'd want is to sour relations with her. So to that end, I'll stop my party but only if you beat me in a drinking contest."

"A DRINKING CONTEST!?" Orin and Sanae exclaimed in unison

"It's the only thing I can think of that wouldn't end up with John here snapped in half." Yuugi said with a shrug

"But I haven't drank alcohol once in my entire life." John said

"Better get to practicing then. This is my condition, hell, I'll even sweeten the deal for you."

"How so…?" John asked with a raised eyebrow

"I'll stop the parties for the next 500 years if you beat me."

John's eyes went wide at that, No doubt Satori would be quite happy with that bit of news once she returned home. 500 years of actually being able to sleep at night? Sounds like a good deal. Still, John remembered what Kaguya had said: The princess had drank with oni once and died several times over, there was no way he could take her on.

"He'll do it." Sanae said resolutely

" _WHAT?!"_ John and Orin exclaimed in unison

"John will take you on, but I would like you to give us 3 days to prepare, is that fine?"

"Why three days?" Yuugi asked

"Well, like John said, he's not ever drank anything before. So he has to practice. 3 days is fair right?"

"I guess that makes sense. Alright, in 3 days, John and I will meet back here and the contest will get underway. For the sake of fairness, we'll keep it quiet for the next few days so you can come at me fully rested. I'll see ya then?"

"Uh...yeah...sure." John said having gave up on getting himself out of this mess.

"Good, see ya then!" Yuugi said slapping him on the back rather roughly before disappearing back into the crowd. When she was gone, John turned to Sanae

"What the _hell_ Sanae?! I'm going to _die_! He said through gritted teeth

"No...you'll be fine. Orin, take John home, start practicing with any drinks you can find. I need to head back to the shrine for a bit."

"What are you going to do?" Orin asked

"Just...pray. Yes, that's it." She took John's hand, holding it tightly "Trust me okay? You'll win, I know you will. Do it for me okay?"

John couldn't stop himself from staring at her face. Dammit, Sanae was way too cute, it was as if her eyes were commanding him to agree with her.

"Yeah, I'll totally win! For you and Satori too!" John said holding onto her hands tightly

"A-HEM." Orin interrupted breaking them out of their little moment "Sorry to interrupt you, but we should probably get to training, right John?"

"Oh uh...yeah! Let's go!"

And so the three retreated to the Palace of Earth Spirits, where John's training would begin.

* * *

 **And so another chapter down! I hope you all enjoyed it. Again, I felt like I ran into a bit of a slump, but I hope I can make up for it with the next coming chapters and-**

 **"There he is!"**

 **"Huh? Hey, wait a minu-"**

 **"Ran, restrain him."**

 **"As you wish Lady Yukari."**

 **"S-stop, you can't do this, I'm the-mmmpfh!"**

 **"Oh come now, I can do whatever I please!" Pardon me dear readers, but I've become...concerned you see. This story has been missing something for quite some time that I think it could really use to make things quite a bit better."**

 **"Oh...? What's that you ask? Well simple really, this tale could do with just a little more... _me."_**

 **"What's that? Concern for the author? Oh don't worry about him, I'll make sure Ran keeps him nice and comfortable. He'll be fine really, now then, I hope you all eagerly look forward to the next chapter! I know _I_ most certainly am~!"**

 ** _"_ Well, I have to go for now, our...guest is being quite unruly and I must lay down the law, so until then..."**

 **"See you next time~!"**


	13. Episode Yukari: The True Culprit!

**Hi there everyone! It's your favorite person Yukari here, ready to introduce the new chapter! Now before we begin, our dear author has something to say. He seemed really agitated so I've allowed him to take over for just this little bit of time. Now then, you had something to share?**

 **Yes, thank you Yukari. I don't appreciate the kidnapping and torture, but I'll overlook that for now. Anyway, I'm sorry if this chapter seems short and seems like not much is going on, but I was...convinced it was wise to check in on Yukari and what she'd been doing. Now then the one comment I really wanted to respond to was the one simply from 'Guest' (Really, it's a shame you can't respond to those comments at all). Now to call the whole deal going on with Yuugi is unfair. 'He can just beat her off' you say? I think to trivialize a confrontation with Yuugi in such a way is an insult to her character. Not to mention, if you look back at some of the fights he's gotten in, he didn't come out entirely on top. I mean, keep in mind Flan knocked him out for nearly a week and Yuuka he didn't even really 'defeat'. To call him 'meek' simply because he got pushed into it by Sanae seems a bit unfair as well. It's not like this kind of thing doesn't happen in the touhou series (or in FFXIV itself for that matter) at all. Hell, I'm pretty sure a lot of the fights stem from things like that. To make a long story short, I find that simply making him fight Yuugi was an easy thing to do, and I simply wanted to attempt something different. Also in regards to the training thing, congrats you fell for it. (Spoiler for the chapter after next, that training thing is a big stinkin' lie).**

 **You sound irritated.**

 **Not gonna lie Yukari, I sort of was reading that particular comment. Well I never said I was perfect. Hopefully that doesn't sour people's opinion of me that badly. Anyway next up.**

 **Mexicanimator: You're almost right. It's not that John has multiple souls. It's more that he's put _his_ soul in more than one stone (which is a thing that's actually mentioned in one of the lorebooks I believe). You're right in that he is changing though, I commend you for picking up on that. And if you think his reminiscing of Haurchefant is bad well...things are going to only get worse for him(Look at the Shadow Bringers trailer to get an idea). Hell for anyone who has played the game there is a very...pivotal scene that's gonna take place with Yuugi and I'm sure those that played the game will know the scene when it happens.**

 **All done then?**

 **Yeah, I'm done.**

 **Good now back to your corner!**

 **Goddammit Yukar-!**

 **Anyway, we've dragged on long enough. This chapter is all about me and what I got up...and what I learned. Happy reading~!**

* * *

Yukari sat in her home pacing. Well, not pacing. She rarely ever actually walked many places with how easy it was to move around with the help of her gaps. Call it being lazy, but well, there was a certain sense of power that came with not having to walk anymore, but that was neither here nor there. The reason she was sitting here in a bad mood was simply because of one reason, or rather one person: John Graham.

She'd wanted to speak to the young man herself. Gauge him from the interactions they could have had. It was easy for her to size up a person from how they carried themselves. Unfortunately, while she had been away gallivanting in Gotham City (which she would never do again. Screw that Batman guy. He can go die in a ditch for all she cared) John had managed to get a powerful ally that was a great wall against her: Yuuka Kazami. When Yukari had made herself known, Yuuka was not happy and somehow John Graham had managed to win her over. She'd peeked in on them a few times and to her surprise Yuuka was showing genuine affection as he and the other people he'd come to know worked together. The problem wasn't that Yuuka was interested in him, in fact, she could care less if Yuuka found a significant other, the real issue to her was the fact that through the tengu newspaper she'd learn that John was going to wed _all_ of the women she'd seen him with. If this had just been Yuuka? That's fine. Only the moon princess? That's okay too. That adorable little vampire? Totally fine.

But _all_ of them?! This is what ticked her off, that boy had to be up to _something_ to get that far with some of the most notable factions in Gensokyo. Originally, Yukari had decided to spy on them, but Yuuka was fierce. She could only look for about 15 seconds before Yuuka's senses would kick in and she'd snap her head towards Yukari's direction. She thought she might have a chance when she heard word of him fleeing to the youkai mountain, but she'd struck a deal with Lord Tenma to not get up to her usual shenanigans on tengu ground unless absolutely necessary. To make matters worse, he was currently residing with the goddesses up on that mountain, which once again would bring unwanted attention to herself.

"How vexing." Yukari muttered to herself as Ran and Chen looked at their master, they'd never seen her so agitated before. Not even Ran had seen her like this

"Is...everything alright Lady Yukari?" Ran asked, the question was rhetorical, she knew things weren't good at all

"No...it's not. Don't feel so nervous you two, you've done nothing wrong." Yukari said in a calm voice, though she wasn't in the best of moods, she wasn't so much of an asshole that she'd take it out on her faithful shikigami. The two of them visibly loosened up as they came closer to their master

"Lady Yukari...is it that human from the village? Is he making you upset?" Chen asked, her ears were drooping downward as a sign of her feelings and Yukari could only cough in response (Goddamn was Chen too cute for her own good).

"It's...him yes. I am just unsure of how to proceed. The boy has holed himself up on the mountain currently, and I'm none too sure why."

"Oh, there's a reason for that." Ran said causing Yukari to perk up "While I was out buying groceries I heard numerous townspeople saying that the women of Favor Trade and John Graham had gotten into some sort of couple's dispute...though I suppose 'couple' is the wrong term to use here."

"So...you're saying his fiances got mad at him...and he ran away?"

"Yes, that's correct."

Yukari had to hold in her laughter at that, she could only imagine how that had played out. "I see...perhaps I should swing by the lady's homes. If Yuuka won't speak to me directly, maybe the family members could help...perhaps Reimu as well."

"Reimu? Is she part of his little harem as well?"

"Oh doubtful, Reimu is far too proud for something like that, and if she were it'd have been _all over_ the tengu papers."

"Good point." Ran conceded nodding in understanding "Are you heading out then?"

"Yes, be sure to have dinner ready for me!" Yukari said as she gave a wave before heading into one of her gaps. Her first stop, would be Reimu's shrine, going to her was a perfect place to get some information regarding John and could possibly shed some light on what he's up to. All it took was a few seconds of traversing her gap space before her head was peeking out of it and into the living room of the Hakurei Shrine.

"Oh great, what do you want?" Reimu said not bothering to look up at Yukari "Do you mind? Marisa and I were just having lunch."

"My, how rude of you Reimu! Is that how you welcome a guest?" Yukari teased

"The problem here is that there's only one guest." Reimu replied pointing at Marisa "And one intruder, now what do you want." she repeated grabbing her gohei threateningly

"Peace Reimu, I simply wanted to ask you something."

"And that is?"

"What do you know about John Graham?"

"Why am I not surprised that she asked about that guy?" Marisa said with a roll of her eyes

"I take it you aren't a fan of his?" Yukari asked with a raised eyebrow

"Hell no! That guy stole my books!"

"According to Marisa, he took a request from the SDM to steal back Patchouli's books after Marisa probably stole some more of hers. Though, there's no proof of him having actually done it."

"Hey, it's not stealing, it's borrowing!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Reimu said lazily as she sipped her tea

"Teehee, I see. Then what do you have to say Reimu?"

"Well..." Reimu started putting her cup down "He's an interesting one for sure. He's pretty strong too, he took down some weird black knight guy...Odin I think he called it?"

"Odin…?" Yukari said with an inquisitive look, that didn't sound right. She'd know if Odin came here and the All-Father had no reason to come traipsing into Gensokyo.

"Yeah, it was strange. He was some sort of being that'd brainwash anyone if they touched his sword after he was defeated. I managed to seal it though, so it shouldn't be a problem anymore."

Taking over people via a sword? That...didn't sound like the Odin she knew at all…

"I see, then what about the women he plans to marry? What do you make of it?"

"Nothing more than he's just a philanderer. But I could care less, I'm gonna get paid for the whole thing!" Reimu said smiling widely, one could almost see yen signs in her eyes.

"You're...hosting it?" Yukari asked

"Yeah, it's a joint event between me, Byakuren, The Moriyas, and Miko. It all works out for me in the end."

"Yeah and maybe finally you can afford some real food!" Marisa joked

"I know right?! I won't have to scrape by for a good while after this! I just hope he comes down from that mountain so we can get everyone together and finalize the details."

"What's got him hold up there anyway? Is it true that he got into a spat with the ladies?"

"Yeah, the moron went and made a marriage proposal to Sanae in front of them all. He made Kogasa so angry she actually sent a chill down my spine."

"It makes me laugh every time I hear it." Marisa said starting to chuckle "That guy is screwed whenever he gets back home."

"No doubt, but I guess it is weird that John has those girls all under one roof and fawning over him like that." Reimu said with a rub of her chin "It doesn't sound like he's up to anything, but it's still odd, even Kogasa is actually kind of a danger now."

"How so?" Yukari asked, listening intently

"Well, she helped out while fighting that Odin guy. And to put it bluntly, she was pulling her weight pretty well. She kept up with Yuuka and the others rather well."

"Truly…?"

"Yeah, I saw it too." Marisa said "Now that I think on it, I recall some of the villagers saying that he was a 'youkai tamer.'"

"Youkai tamer…?"

Marisa nodded "Yeah, but I think it's bullshit, there's no way he could 'tame' Yuuka you know what I mean?"

"Perhaps, but from what I heard, she's quite enamored with him."

"That's putting it lightly." Reimu chimed in, taking a bite out of some of her food "when I went there, she was pretty much in full on housewife mode.

"Interesting."

"Yeah, that's about all I know really. If that's all you want, then get out of here."

"Very well, you've been quite helpful Reimu~!" Yukari said disappearing through a gap, that gave her some good info, her next stop, she decided would be the Scarlet Devil Mansion. After all, she was curious as to how John had managed to win over Flandre...and if she would have to castrate the man for preying on children. There was only one issue: It was the middle of the day, and Yukari would have to wait until night before Remilia woke up, waking up a vampire while they sleep isn't wise, and right now Yukari needed the information, so she'd have to play nice.

 _ **Several hours later**_

With the sun having descended below the horizon, Yukari was ready to head to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Having gone back home to kill time till then, now was the time for her to act. She bid farewell to Ran and Chen before stepping into her gap once more and heading to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. No doubt the little vampire would be enjoying a light dinner (or breakfast depending on who you asked) right now. And sure enough as she appeared on the balcony she could see that Remilia and her little magician friend were eating something while the maid stood still like the perfect servant she was.

"Ah, the gap demon. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Remilia said casually taking a bite of some food Sakuya had prepared

"Good evening little vampire. I simply had a question for you."

"It's about John isn't it?" Patchouli said in a casual tone

"Oh my, am I that easy to read?" Yukari said whipping out a fan to cover her face

"What else _would_ you come here for? It was only a matter of time before he caught your interest. Looking to marry him as well?"

"Quite the opposite, I merely wanted to know why Remilia would be so willing to marry off her younger sibling to the man."

Remilia sighed "To be honest, a part of me is a bit on the fence about it. But...her working with John has to have been the happiest I've seen Flan in a while. Not to mention, he's interesting. According to Patchouli, he appears quite magically adept."

"He is, if only I could figure out what allows him to take on those different forms."

"Different forms?"

"Yes, according to Flandre, he's quite capable in combat, able to change his fighting styles from that of a knight to a mage, and even more than that." Remilia said "I assume you wish to fight him for yourself?"

"Perhaps, but what do you stand to gain from this shared marriage?"

"I suppose having some tangential relation to that moon princess could be useful, aside from having her and John as strong allies, perhaps getting a few rabbits for maids would be nice. Sometimes it's a wonder that the fairies here even manage to not kill themselves."

"Actually my lady, that did happen once." Sakuya says with a slight smirk

"Please, I don't want to hear about it. As long as nothing was broken."

"Well, it isn't broken _anymore_ that is." Sakuya giggled

"Please don't say anymore."

"As you wish my lady."

"So you're fine with this?" Yukari asked

"Indeed. If my sister is happy, far be it from me to impede her, and she has nothing but good things to say about John. He's been treating her well, and she's downtrodden on days when the sunlight is too strong for her to leave home. Is that all?"

"Hmmm, so you have no suspicions of him then?"

"None at all, he's done nothing but be an asset to the denizens of the mansion, even if he did initially break in with Marisa first."

At this Yukari raised her eyebrow intrigued

"Marisa tricked him into helping steal some books, with his help, I returned the gesture tenfold." Patchouli said with a smirk, Yukari would keep that little bit of information to herself just in case she needed it for something. At the very least, she knew he wasn't one to willingly aid a petty thief.

"Is that all then?" Remilia asked sipping her tea

"I suppose it is. Thank you for this...insightful conversation." Yukari said leaving through another gap. Okay, that was two places down. So far, it appeared that John had no particularly dastardly schemes that would upset the peace of Gensokyo, but still, she felt it best to speak to whoever she could. With that being the case, she decided she'd head to Eientei tomorrow. It was late, and she was feeling tired, so more information gathering can continue tomorrow.

 _ **The Next Day**_

Having woken up at the break of dawn(In Yukari's case, past noon). Yukari wasted no time in getting herself over to Eientei. Despite the fact that Eientei could have confusing hallways and doors meant to impede intruders, Yukari had no problem in traversing the place. The rabbits never saw her (a fun little game she'd do for her own enjoyment) and before long she was in the office of Eirin who was looking over some medical documents.

"Excuuuuse me~! Is there a doctor in the house?" Yukari said in a singsong voice

"What the-Y-Yukari Yakumo?! Why are you here?" Eirin said setting her papers down on her desk

"Oh no reason, I just had a few small questions for you."

"Questions…? What about?" Eirin asked with a raised eyebrow

"John Graham. What can you tell me of him?"

"Oh, the princess's fiance? What would you like to know?"

"Well, what do you make of him, what do you think of his character?"

"His character…? Well, I initially thought him as nothing more than just a regular outsider. However, he's there's more to him than I thought."

"Oh? In what way?"

"Well, I'm sure you already know, but he seems to have a way with the ladies, I'm surprised that he's won the princess over where so many men in the past have failed. She didn't even bother to send him through those trials of hers. When I challenged him to go to Medicine's hill, he not only defeated her, but he managed to have her join his ranks and from what the princess has told me, she's not been any trouble at all. She actually helps out quite a bit around the village."

That caught Yukari's attention. She knew about Medicine, and she knew the doll girl had a raging hatred for humans. It really did speak volumes that John was able to convert her of all people to his side and get her into the village and _not_ have her cause any problems or be chased out. Heck having Yuuka around should have tipped her off that he could win over some of the more dangerous youkai out there.

"That said though" Eirin continued on "He can be a bit tactless, I heard from the princess that he managed to anger her, Kogasa, Flandre, _and_ Yuuka. Frankly, I'm surprised he managed to escape at all."

"Hm, yes, I've heard that from some others as well. What's your take on the marriage?"

"It is not my place to question the princess's desires. That said, I can't find myself against it, John has proven himself to be able to take care of her...and frankly I think it's about time the princess found someone to settle down with. Even...even if his life is finite, I believe such memories will help the princess grow quite some bit...unless I..."

"Speak no more and push those thoughts from your mind. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what a bad idea it would be to give that young man the elixir."

"Yes...you're right. Anyway, I suppose besides that, it would be interesting to see how the princess would interact with her soon to be extended family. Perhaps that vampire would be willing to turn over some fairies as test subjects." Eirin said with a sinister gleam in her eye

"R-right...well, I suppose I'll be leaving for now. Thanks for the information~!"

Leaving just as quickly as she came, Yukari gapped herself out of the office and sat thinking for a moment. So far, all the information she had on John made him out to be a pretty decent person. That was fine, but now the question remained of _who_ brought him here, since she hadn't. Her thoughts were broken as she saw a pair of black wings in the distance.

"Oh the tengu reporter...I wonder." Yukari mused to herself as she quickly summoned a gap, causing Aya to fly right into it before she could stop. Stepping through one herself, she and Aya were now face to face in the creepy gap space.

"W-what's this all about?!" Aya said looking around in a panic

"Careful now miss tengu, I simply wanted to ask you something."

"W-what do you want to know?" Aya asked nervously, she wasn't too comfortable with Yukari, the woman always gave her such an aura of foreboding whenever they spoke

"You've spoken with John yes? What do you know of him?"

"Hehe, I'm not surprised you want to know about him! Instead of asking me, I'm sure I can give you all the information you want from my paper!" Aya said handing her a copy. "Can you let me go now? I've got deliveries to make!"

"Not just yeeet~!" Yukari called back as she looked at the paper

What she saw caused her to raise in eyebrow in interest. The paper detailed how John led 22 tengu (and Sanae) into battle against a 'bone dragon.' that was something she didn't expect. A bone dragon? She'd never heard of that before. Still, for him to rally the tengu behind him to take out a monster is impressive feat. In fact, it was interesting how he was bringing so many youkai and humans together under his banner or at the very least striking up decent relations with them.

That's when it clicked for her. Yukari knew what was going on now and she knew who he had to go see.

"May I keep this?" Yukari asked

"Of course! Now if you wouldn't mind letting me go?"

"Huh...oh right." Yukari said snapping her fingers and dropping Aya through the floor, the tengu woman yelping in surprise at the sudden drop.

With that being done, she knew who it was she had to go see. It makes sense, she had to be the one who brought John here and was using him to some ends of her own. It had to be _her…_

To that end, Yukari decided to head over to Senkai. Even if she did try to hide herself away, Yukari was one of the few people who could bypass her tricks with ease. Appearing from a gap yet again, Yukari was now in what appeared to be a dojo of sorts, as a woman clad in red with two small hair buns on her head sat in meditative state.

"Yukari...why are you here?" She asked as her eyes fluttered open

"You know why I'm here." Yukari said in a cold voice, when it came to Kasen, she was far less likely to engage in her usual whimsical attitude instead opting for the one she used to show she meant business.

"No, I actually don't. Enlighten me." Kasen replied calmly

Digging into her sleeve, Yukari pulled the newspaper from Aya and threw it at Kasen's feet. The hermit picked it up and looked over it with clear interest.

"Huh...so a human managed to rally the tengu behind him? And became an honorary tengu member at that? That's certainly something, but I have no idea what this has to do with me." Kasen said placing the paper down.

"Don't lie to me. What did you bring that boy here for?" Yukari spat angrily

Kasen for her part merely sighed, not frightened by her tone in the slightest "Listen to me Yukari. I have no idea who this John Graham is. I mean, I think it's nice that he worked together with a bunch of youkai like that, but I didn't bring him here at all. That's your 'shtick' remember?"

Yukari sat on her gap, staring Kasen straight in the eye. Searching for any sort of movement or anything that would give her away, however after what felt like an eternity Yukari let out a heavy sigh.

"So...you really didn't spirit him away then?"

"I said that didn't I?"

"But then...who else could it be? Who else would allow such a being to walk in Gensokyo?"

"I've no clue, but perhaps you could question John yourself?"

"I would, but it seems Yuuka is guarding him, and he's now on the mountain. I'd much rather not deal with that goddess unless absolutely necessary."

"Well, having read that paper, it seems he's underground right now, and not only that he's challenged Yuugi to a drinking contest in a few days time."

At this Yukari's eyes went wide with disbelief. "That's...wow, I have to wonder if this boy is reckless or is simply wishing for an early grave."

"Who can say, but I know I'll be there to watch. Why not stop by yourself? Maybe you can speak to him then?"

"Not a bad idea...and he's definitely there without his fiances which makes things easier. I think I may join you in watching this little duel. It's starting to sound fun!" Yukari said with a growing smile

"I dunno, it feels kind of wrong to go to what is basically an execution."

"Hmmm, I wonder. From what I've gathered of him, John has done some...interesting things, I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow managed to defeat Yuugi at her own game. Still, I fear that speaking to him won't help me in figuring out who brought him here and why."

"Well, who else do you think would have done it? Okina perhaps?"

Yukari and Kasen both shuddered at that idea before returning to normal, the idea of Okina doing anything made both their skins crawl.

"I...don't think it was her. Do you really think Okina would let John run free and not try to keep him all to herself?" Yukari said

"That's...a good point. Then who else could it be?"

"Well...if it wasn't you, and it wasn't Okina...and it _definitely_ wasn't me that would mean…"

"Hehe, you finally caught on!" came a voice from behind Yukari

The gap demon slowly turned her neck to see a man with blue hair, blue eyes, and a blue kimono staring at them both with a smirk on his face

"R-Ryujin?! Why are you here?" Yukari said with complete and utter shock on her face, it had been years since she'd seen him last. Not since the creation of Gensokyo itself in fact.

"Oh well, I figured it was about time I finally showed myself to you. Besides, I do like admiring you up close instead of far away." he said looking Yukari up and down

At this Yukari and Kasen both sighed, Ryujin, despite being the highest god in all of Gensokyo, one thing Ryujin had been known for was his 'admiration' of the female body. It was something she wished he'd worked on after all these years.

"So tell us then great Ryujin: Why did you bring John Graham here?"

"Now why indeed..." he replied with a grin "I mean, you've done the same before Yukari! It's actually kind of fun to see what humans from the outside get up to don't you agree!"

"Well that _is_ true, but still, this human. This one you've brought here. You've given him some power. Why is that?"

"Sorry, but I can't take credit for giving him any power at all." Ryujin said with a shrug "I was more of a middleman in the whole thing."

"A middleman? But that means you-"

"What? You think you're the only one who can go to other realities? Come on Yukari, you know you aren't the only one who can pull that off."

"You didn't answer us." Kasen said "Why did you bring him here?"

"Come now, wouldn't be any fun if I just told you would it? Besides, weren't you going to see him go up against that oni woman?"

"And…?" Yukari asked with a raised eyebrow raised

"Yukari you've done all this information gathering on your own, frankly, it's the most active I've seen you in a while. Instead of doing all this, why not just go to the source? Talk to John when that challenge is over. See what you make of him yourself, I've already made my judgment, especially after I brought over that fake Odin and bone dragon for him to fight. He's right where I want him to be. At least for now that is. He still hasn't fully assimilated just yet."

"So you've been testing him? Are you the reason he has four woman he's going marry as well?"

At this Ryujin let out a loud laugh "Oh no that wasn't me at all. John managed that all on his own and frankly I'm surprised he's pulled that off at all. I thought he'd go around picking fights constantly, but the fact he went and started up an odd jobs business is something I didn't see coming at all. He's just full of surprises, then again this is Gensokyo, I suppose things like harems and weird businesses is par for the course."

"So you've had very little interactions with him then?" Kasen asked

"Well, I left him a note when he first arrived, and when he was going after Yuuka, I left him just a little bit of incentive to go for the job. Otherwise, we've never spoken."

"That's quite hands off of you." Yukari said with a smirk "Shouldn't you be making sure he's safe?"

"Now now, things wouldn't be any fun if I went and got myself involved in every little thing. You can understand that right?"

Yukari couldn't help but let out a giggle "Yes, I suppose I can."

"Great! Now with that being the case, I'm gonna go for now. Remember Yukari, size the guy up for yourself, then you and I can have a nice long talk...preferably over a nice candle lit dinner."

"Quite the romantic aren't you?"

"Personally, I think it'd be better if we were together in a hot tub together snuggled up nice and close, but there's a process to these things you know that. Oh and use the green apple soap, you smell much better after using it."

"Hmph I'll keep that in mi-H-hey!" Yukari said just as Ryujin disappear, leaving the woman with a bright blush on her face.

"I see he still has the bad habit of peeking on women when they bathe." Kasen snorted

"I-indeed...I'm leaving. I'm sorry for intruding, these past two days have been...tiring."

"It's fine, I'll see you at the drinking challenge then?"

"Yes, to be honest, I'm actually kind of excited to see how things will turn out. Until then Kasen."

With those parting words Yukari entered her gap, returning home with the treasure trove of information she'd gotten.

"You're kidding." Ran said as Yukari finished filling them in "Ryujin of all people is the one who brought him here?"

"Yes, and what he has planned I'm not exactly sure. He's one of the few people I know whose difficult to read, so as to what he's after exactly I'm not entirely sure."

"So what is your plan? Are you going to do as he says?"

"Yes I am. For now at least, I'll play his game and if I feel the need to take things into my own hands I very much intend to."

"What if you have to kill him?"

"Then...I'll do it. I won't enjoy it and no doubt having his women against me would be a worst case scenario, but things can't always go the way we want all the time."

"I understand. Shall I accompany you to this drinking contest then?"

"Oh there's no need for that, consider it a day off, play around with Chen, I'm sure there will be food down there for me to enjoy. You know those Oni don't skimp out on the meat at all."

"As you wish Lady Yukari."

"Oh and one more thing, Ran, we're putting up our strongest barriers in the bathroom okay?"

"Um...why is that?"

"Ryujin hasn't kicked his old habits."

"Ah." Ran replied in understanding "Too bad we can't simply call the authorities on him."

"The worst part of this is that for all intents and purposes when dealing with Ryujin _we're_ pretty much the authorities and look at the spot we're in now." Yukari sighed "Let's just get on with it, I'd like to be able to bathe in peace."

Ran said nothing more as she and her master set to work to get the bathroom properly warded. Later that night Ryujin would very much be unhappy that he wasn't able to see what he personally called 'The Promised Land'.

* * *

 **Now wasn't that fun? I know it was mostly talking, but it's good to have some idea of what the other people are doing no? I certainly didn't expect to run into Ryujin of all people! Now I think in the next chapter I'll-**

 **You won't be doing a thing Yukari.**

 **Wait...how'd you get out of your bindings?**

 **Never mind that. It isn't important. Tell me Yukari, have you played Final Fantasy X?**

 **Back on the PS2 yes.**

 **So you know about Seymour right?**

 **Yes...?**

 **Remember what he does when you bring out summons after his first fight?**

 **Oh right, I think he uses a move called-**

 **Banish.**

 **W-wait...no what's Ryujin plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaning~!**

 **And that takes care of that. Sorry for the bout of kidnapping. I'm sure that won't happen again. Anyway, the next chapter will involve the ladies back at Favor Trade. It's about time we see what they're dealing with don't you agree? Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next! I'm really looking forward to writing that one and especially the ending of it.**


End file.
